


A Christmas Chaos

by mingyuwu



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 95s are in a threesome, Chocolate, Family Friendly, Friends to Lovers, Hogsmeade Dates, Holiday Themes, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, JunHao - Freeform, Kwansol, Lots of Cliches, M/M, chan is a reindeer, father boo, general Wholesome content, hansol ugly christmas sweater collection, hogwarts looks so pretty at christmastime, hogwarts students are very uneducated on butterbeer, horanghae, implied soonhoon ??, jeonghan love expert, jihoon gives good advice, lots of holiday sappiness, meanie, mingyu and wonwoo have a happy ending, mingyu puppy agenda, mischeivous friends, omegaverse style sniffing (i don’t know), seokmin best boy, seriously 97s are the best friends to exist, snake sex (don’t ask), someone please rescue jicheol, soonyoung just cute supportive friend in the corner, why is wonwoo so stupid, zero angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 54,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28161207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mingyuwu/pseuds/mingyuwu
Summary: Mingyu's got a lot of surprise coming his way this holiday season.Inspired by Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, this story takes place over the magical week leading up to Christmas Day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as Kim Mingyu and Jeon Wonwoo find themselves trapped in a slow-burn romance with tension nearly akin to the suspenseful plot of the inspired work, aided and abetted by sneaky friends just as cherished as the naughty ghosts in the original.With six staves full of laughter, happiness, holiday joy, reindeer onesies, tarot readings, cucumber facials, skates, detentions, snake ornaments, and two bubbling extra-credit potions, A Christmas Chaos is a last-minute whirlwind ride of love brought to you by mingyuwu to close out your year.merry christmas, and keep an eye on the mistletoe!
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Yoon Jeonghan, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu, Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 47
Kudos: 127





	1. Stave I: Kim Mingyu Wishes He Was A Ghost

“It’s not going well, is it,” Seokmin asked dubiously as the three of them stared down at the bubbling pot resting on the floor of the Potions resource dungeon. The Hufflepuff stirred miserably at the liquid steaming in the small cauldron.

“Shut up, it looks exactly how the book describes it,” his Slytherin best friend said patiently, Minghao concluding this statement by blowing on the cauldron’s contents before sitting back on his heels. “Now we’ve just got to let it brew for a week.”

“Do you really need extra credit in Potions?” Mingyu questioned the latter, sitting back likewise. “You’re Snape’s favorite student.”

“More reason to attempt getting it,” Minghao replied, grinning at the Gryffindor. “Why? Jealous?”

“Why would I be jealous?” Mingyu scoffed. “I don’t care about kissing teachers’ asses. I’m fine with the grade I have. I can’t believe I’m using my Sunday evening for this.”

“I would’ve thought you’d’ve wanted better grades to send home to your parents for the holidays,” Minghao drawled, a mischievous smirk on his lips.

“Yeah, let’s see what you have to say about that when we take our final Defense Against the Dark Arts exam later this year and I beat you again-”

Seokmin whistled to break the tension, natural result of the other two working in close quarters for so long. Although the three of them were best friends and had been since the first day of their Hogwarts journey, and although there was little to no House rivalry anymore, there were still traits between them that could flare up small arguments from time to time. “Let’s put this on a shelf to set for that week and get out of here. It’s always cold down here and even more so now that it’s winter.”

“I’ll take it,” Mingyu volunteered, Minghao intercepting rapidly and scooping up the pot.

“You’ll drop it on the way. And I’m not spending another hour juicing more squill bulbs.”

“Maybe if you listened to me and just crushed them all in a bowl instead of going one by one-”

“Meticulosity is key in potions, alright? And that explains why  _ you’re _ not Snape’s favorite.” Minghao breezed away to pick a shelf available for students to brew long-standing potions, leaving Mingyu sulking as he cleared away the ingredients.

“Someone mark down the date we put it to set,” Minghao called from the shelves, and Seokmin ripped a strip of parchment off the roll, scrawling down the date before stuffing it into his bag. “If we mess up the date, it’ll be catastrophic. Felix Felicis is absolutely catastrophic if not brewed correctly. Exactly 132 hours- five and a half days, and then we have to do the incantation to solidify the magic of the potion. If we’re even a few minutes off, we’ll screw it all up.”

“Watch us do exactly that,” Mingyu replied, just as several third year girls swept into the resource dungeon, chittering as they retrieved their own cauldron from another shelf and set to work.

Minghao eyed the girls as suspiciously as he’d looked at anyone else that’d come in during their little potion session, and pushed their cauldron a little deeper into the shadows of the shelf he’d picked as the other two came to stand next to him. “Can’t have anyone stealing our pre-brewed liquid luck.”

“They’re two years younger than us, I don’t think they’ve got interest in our OWL-level potions,” Seokmin said exasperatedly, wrapping an arm around each boy’s shoulders and leading them from the dungeon before Minghao exploded with paranoia and carried the cauldron to his room for maximum privacy. 

“Anyway, it’s a real bummer we don’t even get to keep the potion after going to all the trouble of making it,” Mingyu sighed as they made their way up another staircase, the castle relatively quieter seeing as everyone was finishing up dinner and heading to bed. “Imagine how nice it’d be to have some Liquid Luck in your pocket. Pity it’s just for extra credit. Damn Snape for assigning something so impossible that only people as smart as Hao can do it.”

“I suppose it’s confiscated after judging it for extra points because Snape doesn’t know what we could do with it,” Minghao said thoughtfully, unswayed by the compliment as he adjusted the strap of his bag. “Students could use it to cheat on exams or sports…”

“Or you could use it to confess to- well, you know,” Seokmin crooned as they passed the library, and Mingyu flushed at the direct implication. 

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t even say anyone’s name,” Seokmin teased, blinking wide-eyed with mock innocence. “I’m wounded at your accusation, Gyu.”

Minghao snorted. “When  _ are _ you gonna confess?”

“I’m not,” Mingyu mumbled, staring at the ground as they kept walking, his usual bright energy dimmed.

“It’s not like you see him much anyway. Even if he said no. It wouldn’t be awkward.”

“I’ve told you, our parents are friends back at home. That’s how I got to know him, remember? If he says no I’ll still have to see him around every time we have vacation. Plus, he’s a year older than me and I doubt he’d have any interest. A lot of people like him,” Mingyu said morosely.

“Gyu, you do realize that  _ you’re _ the one who looks older than him, right?”

“He probably thinks I’m just immature and all I have is a good body.”

“Well, you’ll never know until you ask.”

“I’m not going to ask, Seok, just quit it.”

“Even if you do ask and he says no, it doesn’t mean that’s the end,” Minghao reminded Mingyu gently, for once his voice leaning towards soft and not its usual sardonic tone. “Remember, I rejected Junhui the first time he-”

“Hao!” 

They all turned to the enthusiastic voice, Minghao grumbling, ‘speak of the devil’ as they found Wen Junhui walking quickly to catch up with them, the sixth year Hufflepuff beaming at the sight of his boyfriend.

“Jun, I just saw you at dinner-” Minghao barely began, but Junhui had already wrapped the younger in his arms, and, upon finding that unsatisfactory, pressed a passionate kiss to his lips.

“Christmas isn’t even close and they’re already kissing like it’s New Year’s,” Seokmin muttered to Mingyu, who stifled his laugh. For all of Minghao’s posturing of being exasperated by Junhui’s antics, it was no secret that Minghao had a serious soft spot for his lover.

“What’re you guys up to?” Junhui pressed as they finally surfaced, Minghao pink in the face as he gently disentangled himself from Junhui’s arms, giving in to the older’s whine and allowing Junhui to continue holding his hand as they kept walking.

“Helping Minghao with our Potions extra credit,” Seokmin replied.

“You guys have it too? I thought it was only for the sixth years.”

“Maybe Snape gave a different potion to each year,” Mingyu suggested. “What’s yours?”

“Amortentia,” Junhui replied. “Wonwoo’s determined to perfect it and turn it in. Ten extra credit points always gets him going. And Snape’s just elevated the competition by saying only one person from our year will get it.”

Mingyu knew that his face was burning at the mention of said crush, and hoped fervently that Seokmin wasn’t making any stupid faces at him. Then again, Junhui was pretty dense when it came to subtle looks, so Mingyu was pretty sure Wonwoo’s friend wouldn’t notice. 

“Ours is Felix Felicis,” Minghao informed Junhui. “I can’t believe Snape is setting us with something so tricky.”

“It’s your OWL year, what do you expect? At least he’s not having students test potions anymore,” Junhui said darkly. “Last year, Soonyoung had to feed a vial of Dizziness Draught to his hamster during a lesson.”

“What happened to it?” Mingyu asked fearfully.

“Well, it got its stomach pumped at the hospital wing two hours later. According to Snape, Soonyoung stirred the potion too vigorously while it was still setting. He got zero points and the hamster’s been on a refined diet since.”

Seokmin shuddered. “Horrible.”

“Imagine if I had to feed Mango anything I brewed in Potions class,” Mingyu said morosely, referring to his baby Niffler. “He’d die within  _ seconds _ .”

“I’m so glad they’ve stopped testing anything on people’s pets. Remember when Hwang Hyunjin had to show his Engorgement Spell on Pepero last year and the thing damn near exploded?” Minghao asked, referring to the Slytherin same-year youth and his beloved pet bowtruckle, a docile thing that resembled the popular chocolate snack. Hyunjin usually tied his bleached hair up into a half-ponytail, in which Pepero usually lodged himself and squealed happily at passerby. It was quite cute, really, although people weren’t allowed to carry pets around unless for class (Pepero had an uncanny skill to detect teachers and usually dove into Hyunjin’s ponytail to avoid being caught). “If McGonagall hadn’t gotten there quickly enough…” Minghao shuddered. “I think Hyunjin would’ve dropped out.”

“Anyway, don’t do anything stupid with it, is all I’m saying. It’s not worth it to test it on anything, it’s just ten extra credit points.” Junhui finished. “And keep Mango away from it. Liquid Luck is probably the shiniest potion out there. He’d dive right into that stuff.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m keeping him far from anything Minghao concocts,” Mingyu joked. 

“Like I’d let that furry thing anywhere near my ten golden points,” Minghao sneered.

“I’m going to be the one laughing when Snape deems your golden potion not worthy enough for those ten points.”

“It’s like every time I talk to them, the bickering is worse,” Junhui muttered in a not-so-quiet voice to Seokmin, making all four of them laugh.

“I tease Hao a lot, but I love him more,” Mingyu cooed, throwing an arm around the lean boy, who winced. 

“Ew. Get off me.”

“Like you really want me to.”

Minghao scoffed, but nevertheless allowed his best friend to hold him to his side the rest of the way to the Hufflepuff dormitory, where they said goodbye to Junhui and Seokmin. 

“It’s almost curfew,” Minghao reminded Mingyu as the latter dragged him up to his dormitory. “And you’re just making the walk back to my dormitory even longer by making me come all the way up to yours,” Minghao added, referencing the fact that the Gryffindor tower and the Slytherin dormitory under the lake were the two furthest from each other in the whole school.

“Here you are, pretending like you’re bothered by me bringing you up when you always say you’d rather walk me to my place before heading to yours,” Mingyu laughed.

“I am not pretending,” Minghao said, lightly nudging Mingyu’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” 

A peaceful silence followed for a few more seconds, but Minghao felt the need to talk. 

“Mingyu.”

“Don’t.”   
“Gyu, you really should do something about Wonwoo.”

Mingyu shook his head. “Don’t push this on me now.”

“He’s going to be a senior next year, and then he’s going to leave. You’ll barely have a year or so with him. This is your chance.”

“Hao…”

Minghao smiled at Mingyu. “You’re really never going to know until you go and ask.”

“He’s into girls. Everyone knows that.”

Minghao chuckled. “Maybe you’re just looking into it too much. There’s no evidence of that.”

Mingyu sighed. “I just don’t want to make a fool out of myself.”

“Listen,” Minghao stopped walking, grabbing Mingyu by the shoulders. “Seokmin and I are your best friends, Gyu. We know you better than anyone else here. And we know how much you like him. We want you to do something about it.”

Mingyu nodded, but he didn’t feel convinced. It was Minghao’s turn to sigh. 

“It’s absolutely unfair for you to be feeling this way about a person and not even give yourself a chance to go and tell him about it.” Minghao regarded him. “I think you really have a chance. Just… think about what I’ve said, okay?”

Mingyu nodded again. “I- okay.” He just wanted to be left alone about this. He was perfectly fine with crushing on Wonwoo from a distance. He didn’t want to get his hopes up for something that was never going to happen.

Minghao checked the time, laughing to himself. “Our curfew is soon. I should get going.”

“Cool. See you tomorrow. And by the way, could I-”

“I’m not helping you with your Herbology essay. We had all week.”

Mingyu grinned. “I had to ask.”

Minghao shoved him teasingly, turning and heading down the hallway. Mingyu sagged against the portrait hole, watching his best friend disappear, Minghao’s words lingering longer than he’d like to admit. 

_ It’s absolutely unfair for you to be feeling this way about a person and not even give yourself a chance to go and tell him about it. _

❆

“I thought love potions were banned at Hogwarts?”

“They are. This is just an extra credit opportunity. I doubt Snape’s going to expect us to bottle the stuff up and sell it,” Wonwoo replied cynically, flipping through his textbook as he lay sprawled across the rug of the Ravenclaw common room, staring at the cauldron bubbling over the fireplace.

Jihoon hummed, closing his own textbook. “Eager for extra credit, aren’t you? I thought you’re already class topper.”

Wonwoo huffed, lightly pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with one elegantly slender finger. “So?”

The shorter Ravenclaw nodded towards the cauldron. “I mean, you’re really raring for it. Not even going down to the Potions resource dungeon to brew it, and doing it up here instead.”

“Someone could steal it,” Wonwoo said seriously. “Not only for taking my work as their extra credit, but I just want us to handle it responsibly, you know? I don’t want someone to take my Amortentia and get high off it and the blame goes to me. I could get framed for selling banned substances to students.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Nobody that knows you is going to assume that you’re operating a love potion black market. Even if someone accuses you of it, Snape already has all the extra credit potions cleared with Dumbledore. So we have an actual reason for making it.”

Wonwoo shrugged. “Nothing wrong with being cautious.”

“Be careful with that stuff,” Jihoon yawned as he stood up. “Junhui might think it’s funny to slip it into your drink before you turn it in.”

Wonwoo snickered. “Nah, Junhui’s not that stupid.”

Jihoon gave him a pointed look, crossing to the windows and watching snow pile up on the sill. In the distance, the Forest was frosted over with crystalline ice, Hagrid’s hut lit brightly in the dark blizzard of the grounds as winter furthered its grasp on Hogwarts. “Yeah, sure.”

“And that’s why I’m keeping an eye on it,” Wonwoo said simply.

Jihoon shrugged. “You do you. Get to bed soon, we’ve got school tomorrow.”

With that parting, Jihoon swept off to his room and left Wonwoo gazing at the hypnotizing warm flames as they licked up the sides of the cauldron bearing his extra credit.

❆

“It’s too early for Christmas,” Minghao grumbled as they entered the Great Hall the next morning to a festive scene. “It’s nearly a week away! Why’s everyone overdoing it?”

“Okay, mister Grinch, no need to be so bitter,” Seokmin replied, eyes sparkling as he gazed out at the holiday-themed hall. “I love it. Christmas is the best time of year here.”

Students mingled amongst all the tables, ditching breakfast for candy canes and peppermint sweets, laughing and talking happily about their plans for the holidays- today was Monday the 20th, meaning that this Friday, Christmas Eve, was the end of term and students would be free to vacation for a few weeks to their hearts’ content. 

“You two aren’t going anywhere this Christmas, right?” Mingyu asked mildly, tugging the other two out of the way to allow students behind them to enter the Hall. Seokmin wasn’t done taking in all the decorations, and Mingyu was content with standing here as Seokmin drank in his fill of holiday cheer. Minghao looked rather exasperated by Hogwart’s tendency to overblow decorations, but grudgingly leaned against a pillar, watching Seokmin with the fond affection one usually reserves for their most childlike friend. 

“My parents wanted us to visit the Caribbean,” Seokmin said, dreamily watching snowflakes drift down from the ceiling. “But I’d rather be here, you know… OWL year, studying.”

“You only want to be here because these people are just as holiday crazed as you,” Minghao laughed. “Look at this! It’s madness.”

“I dare you to say that in front of Junhui,” Mingyu smiled. “He’s just as ‘holiday crazed’ as Seokmin is.”

Minghao’s smile only grew. “He already knows my take on holidays. We agree to disagree.” At Mingyu’s incredulous look, Minghao added reluctantly, “I still buy him presents, alright, and you know how he drags me out to play in the snow. I’m doing my part.”

Elves were scurrying around with large, glittering ornaments, decorating the vast snowy evergreens that’d materialized sometime overnight- clearly recently, seeing as the aforementioned snow that’d accumulated on their pine needles was still fresh and far from melting. 

Snow that wasn’t actual snow, as Mingyu confirmed by swiping a finger along a pinecone and finding the ice clinging to his finger instead of dripping off it.

“Sugar,” he concluded, having impulsively put his finger in his mouth upon his suspicion. “Aw, that’s so nice. It’s like edible snow. They’ve decked the whole hall in giant sugarcoated trees.”

Mingyu glanced up at the teacher’s table as he voiced his realization, and found Professor Dumbledore smiling at him, eyes twinkling as if it was only a secret for those who were brave enough to look closely. There was no way the professor had heard him over the chatter of students, but he figured that Dumbledore had probably been watching everyone enter the hall, waiting for someone to discover the sweet surprise. He grinned back. 

“I wish it was arsenic, I’ve told you so many times to not put random shit in your mouth. Can we go have breakfast now?” Minghao replied sarcastically, nevertheless pausing patiently to allow Seokmin to grab a whole pinecone off the tree, making a possibly stupider move than Mingyu had and happily biting into it, choking moments later.

“The thing’s coated in sugar, but the pinecone itself is definitely real,” Seokmin moaned, snatching a napkin off the nearest table and spitting it out.

“Idiots,” Minghao grumbled, and Mingyu and Seokmin shared a grin behind the mulleted boy’s back.

“One would think he’s the oldest of us three,” Mingyu muttered to Seokmin, who was distracted, looking somewhere behind him, a smirk spreading on his lips. 

“Soonyoung, no! Are you  _ insane _ ?”

Ah. That’s what Seokmin had been looking at. 

Mingyu froze at the voice behind them, feeling blood rush to his cheeks as his face heated up.

No. He was not an elementary schooler, he was not supposed to blush like this at the mere voice of his crush-

They all turned to find Kwon Soonyoung, Mingyu’s Quidditch captain and close Gryffindor friend, sucking victoriously on a whole bunch of pine needles. Jeon Wonwoo stood next to him, an expression of extreme horror on his face. Neither had noticed the trio standing there. 

“Sugar again this year,” Soonyoung declared.

“Do you mean it’s always been sugar?” Mingyu exclaimed, causing both Soonyoung and Wonwoo to glance their way.

“Of course it’s always been sugar, Gyu,” Soonyoung grinned, sticking a single pine needle between his lips as he walked over, beckoning Wonwoo to follow. “Have you never put any of this stuff in your mouth?”

“I mean…” Mingyu glanced at the other two. “We don’t usually go around doing that sort of thing.”

“I expect better things from the person who’s going to succeed me as Quidditch captain in a year and a half,” Soonyoung said quite seriously. “We need a person of chaotic energy managing the team.”

Wonwoo, Minghao, and Seokmin all stared at him dumbly, Mingyu’s eyes wide as dinnerplates. 

“What?” Mingyu whispered.

“Ooh!” Soonyoung clapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh no. I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

Mingyu grabbed Soonyoung in a crushing hug, spinning him around in a circle. “This is the best Christmas present ever, and it’s not even Christmas yet!”

“Shush! You’re not supposed to know,” Soonyoung said worriedly as Mingyu put him down, the shorter boy running his hands through his hair frantically. “I’ve got a whole year left, okay, calm down-”

“You really mean it? When you’re gonna graduate next year, you’ll make me captain?” Mingyu beamed.

“Shhh!” Soonyoung implored again. “I wasn’t supposed to reveal my captain pick yet!”

“You weren’t supposed to reveal it for another year and a half, dumbass, now let’s go and eat or we’ll be late for first hour,” Wonwoo said with a touch of affectionate asperity, barely having glanced at any of the younger three as he grabbed Soonyoung by the arm and attempted maneuvering him away.

“Hey-” Soonyoung twisted out of Wonwoo’s grasp, turning to the others. “Do you guys want to come out with us today evening? The snowfall was so strong overnight that it’s perfect weather for a snowball fight. I’ve spent an hour outside Won’s room today while he got ready persuading him.”

“Busy,” Minghao said immediately. Upon glances from his two best friends, he added, “Junhui already is planning to do that with me on Christmas Day, and I really, really… cannot fake enthusiasm for being hit in the face with powdery ice twice in one week.”

“I’m down,” Seokmin said, cutting off Minghao to reply to Soonyoung. “Anyone else coming?”

“I asked Seungkwan and he said he’ll come with Hansol. Chan’s busy and even though I pestered him about what could possibly be more important than this, he refused to give me an answer,” Soonyoung said, referring to their fourth year friends. Soonyoung, Seungkwan, and Seokmin co-ran the school choir and therefore Seokmin was quite close with that group.

“So that’s…” Seokmin paused. “Well, that only makes five of us.”

“But we need even numbers for teams,” Soonyoung said worriedly, as if tonight’s planned snowfight was this crucial and more important than the countless assignments he no doubt had due by the end of this week.

“Mingyu can join us,” Seokmin said, grinning like the devil as he nudged Mingyu. 

No way was Mingyu doing something as intimate as a snowball fight with Jeon Wonwoo. Nope.

“I’ve got Quidditch,” Mingyu bullshitted straightfacedly, forgetting that Soonyoung was right in front of him.

“No you don’t,” Soonyoung scoffed. “I think if there was practice I’d know about it.”

“Right,” Mingyu said. “I don’t. Oops.”

Wonwoo stifled a laugh.

Mingyu could practically hear Minghao screaming ‘ _ HE DEFINITELY THINKS YOU’RE CUTE!’ _

“Then it’s settled,” Soonyoung said cheerfully. “I expect to see Wonwoo, Mingyu, Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Hansol join me in the courtyard at 8 PM promptly for our snowball fight.”

“I didn’t-” Mingyu spluttered, but Soonyoung had already skipped past him happily, snatching another bundle of pine off a nearby tree on his journey to the Gryffindor table.

Wonwoo clapped him on the shoulder as he passed, a mere friendly gesture from someone who just saw Mingyu as another part of their friend circle. “Get used to it. At least you’re not his best friend. See you two tonight. Minghao, you’re one lucky bastard for escaping this.” With that being said, Wonwoo grinned at Mingyu and moved off to the Ravenclaw table.

“Oooh, Wonwoo touched you,” Minghao mocked, faking dramatics. “Wonwoo’s enamored!”

“Shut up,” Mingyu said lightly, although he couldn’t deny that he still felt the phantom of Wonwoo’s graceful hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just go eat breakfast.”

Apparently the heavens couldn’t give Mingyu a few minutes of reprieve, because as soon as he’d sat down at the Gryffindor table, he was instantly jumped on from behind by a smirking seventh year boy with a head of sleek bleached-blonde hair. 

“Jeonghan,” Mingyu exhaled, a hand over his heart. 

The Slytherin Head Boy grinned back. “Did I scare you?”

Mingyu wanted to strangle him, but the two of them went way back. Jeonghan and his other two fellow Head Boy friends- the seventh years of their friend group- had been responsible for taking care of and practically raising everyone else in their circle. 

“When you grab someone from behind after creeping up on them, I mean, yeah-”

“Shut up. Anyway,” Jeonghan cut Mingyu off. “I’m inviting you to a Christmas Eve party, this Friday. You’ve gotta come, or make room in your schedule for it. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Hm,” Mingyu accepted the card Jeonghan practically shoved into his hands. “Wow. Okay…” 

The card was covered in glittery still-drying green paint and had a lovely picture of a pair of silver snakes engaged in unspeakable actions on it; made festive with stickers of candy canes around the edges.

Mingyu rolled his eyes at Jeonghan’s handiwork. 

“Do you not appreciate art when you see it?” Jeonghan accused. 

“No, no. This  _ really _ touches my heart.” Mingyu paused, staring at the card some more. “Did you just want to show people snake sex and think it’d be festive if you stuck some peppermints on it?”

“They’re celebrating the holidays together,” Jeonghan argued. 

“I see. I expect you’re hosting this party?”

“Well, actually-”

“I am,” came an amusedly exasperated voice from behind Jeonghan, and it was the latter’s turn to jump slightly as he turned to find himself facing his ‘rival’- Choi Seungcheol, Gryffindor Head Boy. 

Said ‘rival’ flushed at Jeonghan’s gaze, and it was no secret that the look Jeonghan gave him was far from hatred.

Dear god, they could just make it official so they could stop pretending to hate each other when they were with all their friends. Mingyu was pretty sure the whole school had already figured it out. Or maybe Jeonghan found competitive hatred very sexy and demanded Seungcheol to fulfill that kink of his. Who knew. 

“If this is your party, why’d Jeonghan give me this 18+ card I know you’d never endorse?” Mingyu asked Seungcheol, raising an eyebrow.

“’Cause I haven’t given you mine yet,” Seungcheol replied, handing Mingyu a card made of red cardstock, a picture of two cozy lions dozing by a warm fireplace depicted on it. “The details for the party are on the back.”

“See,  _ this _ is heartwarming,” Mingyu told Jeonghan, giving the card a flick. “Not traumatizing. You actually want your invitees to attend your party, you know. A graphic depiction of animal reproduction isn’t encouraging. Here, look at these lions. They’re adorable and appropriate.” 

Jeonghan humphed. “Whatever.”

“Can someone please explain why I’m holding two holiday cards with-” Mingyu glanced at the back of both cards. “With the same date, place, and time on them?”

“We’re hosting the aforementioned party together,” Jeonghan said, as if it was obvious. 

“You two,” Mingyu choked on his laughter. “You- no way!”

“Yeah way,” Seungcheol said. “We’ve decided to put our differences aside for the holiday season. So we’re hosting along with-”

Mingyu snorted. “Yeah? What differences? You guys know that it’s not a secret that-”

“Iwillcurseyouifyoudon’tshutuprightnowotherpeopledon’tknowandwe’dliketokeepitthatwayifyoucouldjustshutupthat’dbegreat,” Jeonghan hissed in one breath. 

“They’re not hosting alone,” came another voice, and Mingyu wondered just how many people had to come along to deliver invites as yet another one was pressed into his hand.

“You too?” Mingyu glanced down at the third card, a bronze badger bundled in a scarf and mittens, holding a stack of books in front of a deep blue background. “Please don’t tell me-” upon turning the card over to see identical details, he glanced up at the Ravenclaw Head Boy. “Joshua, I really don’t think you want to host a party with these two-”

“Seungkwan dared me that I couldn’t be civil for one day, so I’m proving him wrong by hosting a party with the two most annoying people on earth,” Jeonghan replied.

Seungcheol shrugged. “I told Han- I mean, Jeonghan- I’d agree to work with him if we could have the party in the Gryffindor common room.”

“And I’m responsible for catering,” Joshua added. “I’m probably going to mass-order from the Cinnabon in Hogsmeade.”

“I said I don’t like cinnamon rolls,” Jeonghan snapped, somehow managing to do it while looking at Joshua affectionately.

“Well,  _ you _ don’t have to eat them. Shove them up your ass for all I care.”

“You know very well what I’ll have shoved up my ass on Christmas,” Jeonghan sneered, and Joshua turned as red as Santa’s stockings. “Oh,” Jeonghan said, realizing that Mingyu was in clear earshot. “I mean-”

“When did this evolve into a threesome?” Mingyu questioned mildly, earning a three-way glare and a unified “ _ sssh! _ ” that nearly made him burst into laughter. “Alright. I’ll consider coming to your hell- I mean, Christmas Eve party.”

Seungcheol tousled his hair. “There’s my Gyu. I’ve got to go.”

“And where are you going?” Joshua questioned.

“You know exactly where, meet me there,” Seungcheol muttered, and disappeared. Joshua lingered for a few more seconds, and vanished after him down the aisle between tables.

“They’re really not being subtle, are they,” Mingyu observed. “Isn’t it too early in the morning for, well you know, that? And aren’t you going to go join them? Seeing as it’s you three now? Speaking of threesomes, I’ve always wondered how those work-”

Jeonghan bent down and on the pretense of straightening Mingyu’s tie clamped his hand over Mingyu’s mouth, bending down and whispering in his ear, “Why do you always have more than a thousand questions? If you make one more joke about my threesome, I will hang you ‘there upon the fireplace’ understand? Just like Mariah Carey said.”

Mingyu gulped and nodded.

Jeonghan stood up, still frantically eyeing nearby people to make sure nobody had overheard Mingyu’s threesome joke while wiping his hand on Mingyu’s cloak. “Anyways, I’m doing you a big favor, Gyu.”

“How exactly?” Mingyu lightly shook out his fringe, peeking up through the ends of the bangs at the still-smirking Slytherin. “Oh no. What did you do?”

“Ask me,” Jeonghan prompted.

“Ask you what? I just asked you what you did.”

Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “How can I ever live my life like a movie if nobody else understands the dialogues?”

“Sorry we’re not telepaths,” Mingyu grumbled. “Just tell me.”

“Come on, Gyu, just ask. It’s what most people say when they get an invite to a party.”

“Will there be cake…?” Mingyu saw Jeonghan’s expression and backtracked. “Okay, okay, I got it. What  _ flavor _ is the cake?”

A dramatic sigh. “The line is, ‘who else is invited to the party, Jeonghan?’ obviously!”

“Oh.” Mingyu stared up at him, and realized that Jeonghan was not going to answer him properly unless he just went along with it. 

So he submitted and wearily asked, “Who else is invited to the party, Jeonghan?”

Jeonghan patted Mingyu’s head patronizingly. “Poor thing. You got there in the end.”

“Answer. The. Question.”

“Well, I invited our Slytherin friends, so Minghao and Chan are already set to attend. Seungcheol was responsible for Gryffindors, but I wanted to beat him to you, seeing as his card sucked.” Jeonghan elaborated with, “The three of us couldn’t decide on which card to use because each of us drew one so we just decided to deliver ours to different people. Anyway, since I consider you a good friend I gave you my card. Much better than Seungcheol’s, isn’t it? I feel so sorry for Soonyoung and Hansol, they also got Seungcheol’s card, being the other two Gryffindors. They probably hated it.”

“Really?” Mingyu sifted through the three cards in his lap, holding up the lion one. “I don’t know about Sol, but I feel like Soonyoung would really like this card. They’re pretty close to tigers, after all.”

“It’s absolute trash, Cheol sucks at designing,” Jeonghan said harshly.

“But this one looks like you, and this one looks like him. Maybe that’s why he designed it this way. He’s always thinking of you,” Mingyu said innocently, pointing at each lion in turn. 

Jeonghan broke composure to giggle. “Really? They look like us?”   
“No, not really. They don’t resemble humans.” Mingyu sighed exasperatedly. “Can we stay on topic? Is that the entire guest list?”

“You didn’t let me finish. Joshua got the Hufflepuffs. It barely took any convincing for Junhui, Seokmin, or Seungkwan to confirm their attendance- I mean, I don’t know any Hufflepuffs that would deny an invite to a holiday party.”

“Right. So you aren’t inviting any Ravenclaws?” Mingyu thought fervently of a lean boy with round-rimmed glasses and narrow eyes.

“Aha!” Jeonghan crowed. “You’re finally picking up cues. I personally took the liberty of inviting Jihoon and Wonwoo.” Jeonghan leaned in, repeating slowly. “Wonwoo.”

“Yes, thanks, get out of my face.”

Jeonghan blinked at him expectantly. “The love of your life!”

“He is not the love of my life! It’s a crush!” Mingyu frowned. “How do you know about this? Did Seokmin tell you?”

Jeonghan practically cackled. “Gyu, let’s just say that you’re about as subtle about liking Wonwoo as me, Seungcheol, and Shua are about our threesome. And for the record, he’s definitely the love of your life.”

“So…”

Jeonghan patted his head again. “And guess what Wonwoo said.”

“What?”

“No.”

“‘No’ what? You’re refusing to telling me what he said?”

“‘No’ as in, he’s not coming.”

Mingyu blinked. “So what’s all the suspense for?” Although he tried to play off as casual, he felt a small sprout of upset rooted in his heart.

“Because that’s not the end of the story. Con master extraordinaire, yours truly Yoon Jeonghan, convinced Wonwoo to come,” Jeonghan said with flair.

“What? How? He’s not really a party person.”

“Stop asking questions and say thank you.”

“Thank you,” Mingyu said cautiously. “But I feel like there’s a catch. What exactly did you say to Wonwoo?”

“You have to promise me you won’t get angry.”

“Why would I get angry?”

“Because I kind of maybe told a teeny tiny harmless little lie. And it kind of has to do with you, except not actually like your name or anything, but it’s something that could help you out on Friday.”

“What exactly do you mean, ‘kind of maybe’? So did you? Or didn’t you?”

“I may have did.”

Mingyu’s face went blank. “Jeonghan. What did you-.”

“Okay, okay! You’re already getting mad,” Jeonghan snapped his fingers. “If you start using that tone, I’m done talking.”

Mingyu took a deep breath. He knew how to talk to Jeonghan. Patience was key. “Fine. I won’t lose it.”

“Actually,” Jeonghan said, glancing at the time. “I should probably go catch breakfast. I don’t want to be late to first hour, I’ve got a big Arithmancy assignment to turn in and my professor always likes to collect right at the start of class.”

“What? No.” Mingyu grabbed Jeonghan’s cloak sleeve. “You can’t leave like this! You need to tell me what you said! I’m a part of it!”

“I’ll tell you tonight. You can come by to my dorm, if you want.”

“I can’t. I have to go to Soonyoung’s dumb snowball fight or whatever at 8.”

“Oh, that,” Jeonghan grinned. “I told him I had a spa appointment.”

“I’m assuming you don’t?”

“Ingenious of you. I’m actually hosting a cucumber-cocoa-cinnamon self-care lesson down in Hogsmeade tonight for the younger Slytherins and local villagers. They’re getting so interested in fashion and skincare. Thankfully, the end time will probably overlap with Soonyoung’s snowball fight proposal so I can’t make it. And I’ve demanded that the other Head Boys help me out, so none of us are free to come and get our skin dried out by snow.” Jeonghan ruffled his own hair. “I’m not surprised the demand is so high for my class. You know, everyone just wants to look like me. Figure out all my beauty secrets. Can’t blame them.”

“Yeah, I bet it’s all genetics,” Mingyu replied tiredly.

“Nah, I’m definitely better looking than my parents,” Jeonghan said flippantly, checking the time again. “I really have to go. How about you meet me at the Hog’s Head after you and Seokmin get off work tonight?”

“Why would I meet you there? Seokmin and I work at the Three Broomsticks, not the Hog’s Head.”

“Where do you think I’m having the spa session?”

Mingyu widened his eyes. “You’re having a self care  _ beauty _ session at the  _ Hog’s Head _ .”

“Absolutely. It’s got a nice rustic feel to it, you know.”

“Yeah, rustic like rust poisoning. Han, the place is falling apart.”

Jeonghan never really listened to other people when they were talking. “So tonight, 6:45?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Mingyu sighed. “Should I bring Seokmin along- wait, no. If he hears Wonwoo’s name anywhere near mine, he starts hyping like crazy.”

“Oh really?” Jeonghan’s eyes glinted with mischief.

“Yeah. He’s, like, president of the Mingyu-Ask-Wonwoo-Out-Please club.”

“Hmm. If you don’t bring Seokmin along tonight I won’t tell you what I said to Wonwoo,” Jeonghan declared with a grin, and before Mingyu could say another word he’d flounced off to the Slytherin table.

Mingyu sighed and slowly turned around on the bench to face the table properly, Hansol choosing this moment to appear and sit down opposite him.

“Hello...” Mingyu said, blinking at the cheerful younger boy. Hansol was decked out in a sweater with a grinning reindeer on it, the words ‘HO HO HO’ right underneath it. This was complemented with the Santa hat he’d donned in place of his wizard hat, the cotton puffball at the end of it replaced with a shining fat golden sleighbell that tinkled every time he moved his head, which was unfortunately very frequently. Hansol had rounded off the outfit by following school dress code and draping his cloak over his shoulders. Mingyu had never seen such a thing in his life. 

One should be miserable while wearing something that ridiculous, but Hansol was so gleeful that he could’ve fooled Mingyu into thinking Christmas had been rescheduled a week early to today. Mingyu loved dressing up for the holidays, but this was completely over the top.  _ He _ wouldn’t even wear something like this. 

The fourth year beamed happily at him. “Hi, hyung!”

“Hansol, we’re not in Korea, we don’t need to-”

“You’ll always be hyung to me, hyung. Do you like my outfit? I lost a bet to Seungkwan and he made me wear this, but I don’t really mind. I kind of like it. It’s Muggle fashion, he said. Groovy, isn’t it?” Hansol shimmied his shoulders, causing the sleighbell on the end of the hat to chime excitedly. 

Mingyu privately wondered how Seungkwan, a pure blood, had any idea what Muggle fashion was. Well, it wasn’t like he knew either. Maybe they actually wore stuff like this. If so, Mingyu was very glad he lived in a wizarding community at home, because if people walked around dressed like this he’d get very sick of the holidays too. Perhaps that was why Minghao, whose family had chosen to live amongst Muggles, hated Christmas season so much. 

Hansol dinged the bell on his hat again. “So? How’s the outfit?”

“It’s stunning,” Mingyu mumbled, having lost his motivation to dote on Hansol as he usually did (Mingyu absolutely adored Hansol on most days, he’d practically adopted the boy as his younger brother over the years. Not to mention that Hansol was probably the most enthusiastic person on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, maybe right after Soonyoung himself. And Mingyu loved anyone who could play Quidditch well). 

Mingyu was still too busy thinking about what Jeonghan must’ve done to Wonwoo. Mingyu loved Jeonghan like a brother, but also hated him like a brother. It was something in the way that Jeonghan always had the last word, and Jeonghan always knew everything about everybody. Frustrating.

“Did you get the invite to the big party, too?” Hansol peeped, eyes widening as he looked at the cards in Mingyu’s hands. “Wow! You got three? That’s so cool!”

“Apparently I’m special enough that everyone wanted to deliver one to me personally.” Mingyu said dryly, shuffling through them. 

“Ooh.” Hansol’s eyes went wide as he caught sight of Jeonghan’s card. “Woah… what are those snakes  _ doing _ ? Oh my god-”

“Maybe it’s a good thing that you only got Seungcheol’s card,” Mingyu said, and hastily put the cards away before any more innocent eyes were scarred. 

Feeling very sorry for Chan, who obviously received Jeonghan’s card, Mingyu decided to just eat breakfast and push away his problems. His fiasco of feelings weren’t due to start until what he’d thought would be 8 tonight, but had backpedaled to an hour and fifteen minutes prior- 6:45; when he’d have to meet Jeonghan at the shadiest place in Hogsmeade to discuss whatever sneaky business the latter had done to manipulate Wonwoo into coming to the holiday party. 

❆

“-and you would not believe what happened to Taehyung’s frog after that!” Seokmin said, speaking as quick as he usually did when he was in a rush to deliver a grand story.

“Do tell,” Mingyu said dully as he continued wiping down the bar. He’d usually be the one wide-eyed as he listened, enraptured, to what Minghao called ‘Seokmin’s Bouts of Foolishness’. But he was already weighed down from the prospect of meeting Jeonghan later. 

Mingyu had spent all day thinking about Yoon Jeonghan, the boy that was, although quite kind and sweet most of the time, known for a playful flame of mischief and lies and sneakery that often ignited whenever he spotted room for chaos. Mingyu didn’t usually think of pretty boys that weren’t Jeon Wonwoo, yet his mind had been occupied with the blonde-haired Slytherin today because he’d spent most of it racking his brains for what on earth Jeonghan could’ve said to Wonwoo to convince him into coming to a festive holiday party.

Mingyu blinked out of his trance to find Seokmin sitting atop the bar, sulking with his bottom lip jutting out as it did when he didn’t feel his storytelling was garnering the attention it should.

“You’re not listening,” Seokmin grumbled.

“I am. You were saying something about Kim Taehyung and his frog.”

Seokmin lightly hit Mingyu’s shoulder as Mingyu gently nudged him off the bar counter to get the spot that he’d been sitting on. Moving out of Mingyu’s way, Seokmin continued ranting. “That was like, fifty years ago! Did you not hear anything after that, about the frog going absolute nuts and like, bouncing off the walls?”

“Mm, yeah,” Mingyu said vaguely, casting his eyes around the empty bar. It was closing time for the Three Broomsticks, seeing as it was a Monday night. Seokmin and he came to work here part-time, two hours a day during the week (Hogwarts had, in recent years, begun to allow fifth-years and older to go to the village after school to work for a minimal wage, recognizing students with families in financial crisis. Neither Seokmin nor Mingyu were in that situation, but they still liked the feeling of responsibility that came with a real job and the bank report that came from Gringotts every month with a little more money in their vault each time. Minghao didn’t work because his family was rich as hell and he hated any sort of labor or customer service). 

Mingyu was just thinking of Minghao and how absolutely lucky he was to not have to scrape Butterbeer foam off the counter every night when the door jangled and in walked the aforementioned skinny boy.

“Shop’s closed,” Mingyu joked.

“Very funny,” Minghao grinned. “Nobody’s happy to see me?”

“Hao! You’ll listen to me, right?” Seokmin beamed.

“Nope,” Minghao said, strolling over to the counter. “How’s closing going?”

Mingyu gestured irritably at Seokmin as he bent down to put away glass mugs. “Only one person is doing the closing here.”

With that, he dropped two mugs and winced at the shattering sound. “Oops.”

“You’ll never change, Gyu,” Seokmin said solemnly, observing the mess.

“ _ Reparo _ ,” Minghao said calmly, abandoning tact and climbing over the whole damn counter to grab the fixed mugs from Mingyu before he could drop them again, shelving them for him. “Ooh. Feels nice to be back here. All paycheck-y.”

“Yeah, stand here for a few hours and see how you like it,” Mingyu groaned, arching his back and untying his apron. “I honestly don’t think we get paid enough. What are you doing here anyway? It’s 6:40 on a school night, surely you’d be in your dorm, all locked up after dinner, studying the night away?” Mingyu did a double-take to the clock in the corner. “Fuck, it’s already 6:40.”

“I know, we were supposed to get off work ten minutes ago,” Seokmin mumbled. Although Mingyu and Seokmin were the only employees left, they were responsible for closing every weeknight by 6:30 and locking up the bar. 

“We _would_ be done by 6:30 if someone actually helped me clean up,” Mingyu snapped, walking around the counter and hanging his apron on the hook as he went. “And I have to get somewhere by 6:45. Seokmin, you’re coming too. Don’t ask.”

“Where is it?” Seokmin cheeped anyway, pulling on his coat too. Minghao exasperatedly pulled a scarf out of his jacket pocket, wrapping it around Seokmin’s neck.

“You always forget your scarf. I dropped by your dormitory to get it for you on my way, luckily some naive second year let me in. Seriously, are you five, needing me to bring you your articles of clothing?”

“Hehe. Thanks.”

“Sometimes I really think I’m the oldest here.”

“Where’s mine?” Mingyu asked.

Minghao stuck out his tongue. “Sorry. Forgot.”

Mingyu gave him a deadpan stare, grinning moments later as a green scarf sailed through the air, snatching it before it hit his face. “A Gryffindor wearing Slytherin pride. I like it. I’m so honored that you love me enough to give me your own scarf.”

“Shut up,” Minghao said, but he was smiling anyway.

“Will you ever admit that you actually think and care about us a lot?” Seokmin questioned as they walked out of the bar, Mingyu locking the place up behind them.

“If you get me drunk on enough Butterbeer at Friday night’s party, maybe,” Minghao replied seriously as they began strolling down Hogsmeade Lane, the snow flurrying around them. 

“But you don’t drink Butterbeer,” Mingyu objected. 

“Exactly,” Minghao smirked. “Now, why are we walking the opposite way of the school and further into Hogsmeade?”

“You tell us why you’re here first,” Mingyu said to stall for time.

Minghao shrugged. “Junhui’s busy.”

“And…?” Seokmin prompted.

“And I…” Minghao mumbled the last part.

“What?” Both Mingyu and Seokmin questioned.

“I might’ve been bored and needed someone to chat with,” Minghao conceded.

“So-” Mingyu giggled. “You missed us.”

“I did not.”

“Hao missed us!” Seokmin cooed, looping his arm around Minghao’s as they continued down the street, Mingyu reciprocating on Minghao’s other side.

“Whatever. Where are we going?” Minghao asked again.

“Jeonghan’s doing this beauty thing at the Hog’s Head, he asked Seokmin and I to pop in to support him after we were done with our shift. Something about cucumbers and… I remember cocoa-something too.” Mingyu shrugged, hoping the lie about his reason for visiting Jeonghan was enough to persuade them to come. It wasn’t like he’d really lied, right? Hopefully Seokmin and Minghao would be distracted by whatever class was going on and Mingyu could grill Jeonghan for answers. But a part of Mingyu remembered how enthusiastic Jeonghan had been about Seokmin coming too, and he figured that Jeonghan intended Seokmin- and probably Minghao too, now that the mulleted boy was here as well- to listen in. “You’re here too now, so I guess you’re coming along.”

“Hot cocoa?” Seokmin lit up. “Okay, you’ve sold me. Let’s go!”

Minghao gave Mingyu a side-eye that indicated the younger boy knew that it wasn’t that straightforward, but relented and allowed himself to be dragged along.

The Hog’s Head was brightly lit, but there was so much tinsel obscuring the windows from inside that Mingyu had no idea what he was getting the three of them into.

He raised his hand to the leering boar knocker, blinking at it as for a second its smirk mirrored that on Jeonghan’s face. 

Mingyu shook his head. His imagination was running rampant as usual. He raised the dulled silver heavy ring and let it fall back onto the door with a resounding  _ clang.  _

__ No turning back now. Time for answers.

☽

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> be patient, stave two is coming quite soon!
> 
> i'm planning to post one stave a day so the last stave will be on Christmas Eve and close out with the holiday party! please comment with your thoughts or maybe a prediction about what exactly jeonghan said to wonwoo hehe
> 
> i love you all thanks for reading!!


	2. STAVE II. The First Of The Four Nights.

The door swung open and the trio found themselves face to face with Jung Hoseok, the Hufflepuff Head Boy. Hoseok’s face was covered in a cucumber mask, his hair damp and covered in something coffee colored and powdery.

“Hoseok!” Seokmin smiled, completely unperturbed by Hoseok’s appearance. 

Hoseok smiled back at the younger Hufflepuff. “Hi, Seokmin! I was waiting for you and Mingyu, Jeonghan told me he had something to tell you guys, come on in! Hi- Xu, isn’t it? Xu Minghao.” Minghao nodded, smiling shyly as he stepped inside after Mingyu and Seokmin.

Mingyu lost thought of everything when he’d gotten past the threshold. He wasn’t even sure how Hoseok had heard the knocker, because the noise decibel in here couldn’t be possible. 

Laughing students with scarves of all Hogwarts colors flitted around the interior of the Hog’s Head, which was brightly lit and decorated with several floating candy canes and peppermints floating up near the ceiling. Tiny flying imps barely larger than one’s hand were dressed in elf costumes, bearing plates of cucumbers and tureens of honey and cinnamon powder as they zipped amongst the students. Everyone had some sort of cucumber concoction on their face just like Hoseok had, and students were helping each other paint the cinnamon powder into their hair. 

“What is this nightmare?” Minghao mumbled in Mingyu’s ear, and Mingyu shook his head, utterly speechless.

Seokmin tugged on Mingyu’s sleeve. “Where’s the hot cocoa?”

“I misspoke, I think. I don’t believe they’ve got that here,” Mingyu said truthfully. 

Jeonghan squeezed through a cluster of students, pausing briefly to chide a student for using their wand to direct the hairbrush- _“I know magic is helpful but beauty takes personal effort!”_ \- before making his way over. 

“Hi, Gyu,” Jeonghan said happily. “Glad you could make it. Want a cucumber mask?”

“Absolutely not,” Mingyu started, but Seokmin chose to pipe up with, “Can I have one, Han?”

“Of course you can,” Jeonghan agreed pompously. “Minghao, care for a-”

“I’ve learned over the years that it’s always easier to just agree with you,” Minghao replied, somehow having summoned a hairband from out of nowhere and already gathering up the length of his bangs off his head. “I’ll take the whole package, whatever that entails.”

Mingyu stared at his best friends, completely betrayed.

Jeonghan tsked. “Come on, Gyu! I’ll do yours personally and free of cost.”

Mingyu gulped. “Okay.”

“Excellent,” Jeonghan said approvingly. “Follow me.”

Minghao, looking (scarily) determined to get every health benefit from Jeonghan’s beauty tips, grabbed both Mingyu and Seokmin by the wrists and began maneuvering them through the masses after the older boy’s bobbing fair-dyed hair.

“ _What_ are you doing, Hao?” Mingyu said through gritted teeth, glaring at Minghao.

“Cucumber’s got loads of beneficiary properties. I’m helping you out here. You’ll be _glowing_ when you go and meet Wonwoo in an hour for your snowball date,” Minghao said brashly.

“It’s not a date!”

“Mhm.”

Jeonghan reconvened with them at a quieter corner of the place, dragging over three chairs to a vanity mirror that he’d set up- Mingyu didn’t even want to know how Jeonghan had gotten all these materials down to Hogsmeade. 

“Cheol! Shua!” Jeonghan yelled over the melee of loud students, and moments later they materialized, both identical to the rest of the masses. How they heard Jeonghan over the partying beautified crowds was a mystery. 

“You’ve got a bit of cinnamon there,” Minghao said helpfully, pointing at Seungcheol’s cheek. “I assume it’s fallen off your hair.”

“Ooh, thanks,” Seungcheol said, wiping it off. “So, you three gave in to Jeonghan, huh?”

“Yes they did!” Jeonghan said cheerfully. “Cheol, you help Minghao, and Shua can take Seokmin. You, mister-” Jeonghan shoved Mingyu down into the middle chair, spinning him around so Mingyu could stare at his reflection in the light-studded mirror. “You get little old me!”

“Maybe this was a bad idea-” Mingyu began, but Jeonghan had already accepted a bowl of cucumber-and-god-knows-what and slapped some onto Mingyu’s cheek.

“There. How does that feel?”

“Wet, sticky, and not desirable,” Mingyu replied honestly.

“Well, you’ll feel great afterwards,” Jeonghan said, winking at him in the mirror as he attacked Mingyu’s other cheek. “And look amazing for your little date. Here. Put this on.” Mingyu, bewildered, accepted the pink fluffy hairband Jeonghan pressed into his hand, pushing his hair back with it and checking his reflection, upon doing so deciding that maybe it’d be better for his self esteem if he didn’t look in the mirror until this was over. 

“Mingyu’s going on a date?” Seungcheol asked with interest, massaging honey into Minghao’s hair. Minghao looked like he was enjoying this whole thing way too much. “Has he finally gotten over his little Wonwoo crush, then?”

“Does everyone know about this?” Mingyu snapped.

“You’re really not subtle,” Joshua said gently from where he was delicately painting cocoa and milk into Seokmin’s dark hair. 

“Great.” Mingyu glared at Jeonghan through the mirror. “You promised you’d tell me. I barely have an hour until 8. And Soonyoung will actually kill Seokmin and I if we show up late.”

“Tell him what?” Seokmin asked curiously.

Jeonghan cackled. “My genius plan.”

“What genius plan?” Minghao asked, suddenly intrigued.

Jeonghan winked again. “To get Jeon Wonwoo roped into Kim Mingyu’s romancing.”

Mingyu groaned and sank lower in his chair. “Han. Please. What did you do.”

“The level of disrespect. Here I am, voluntarily using my cucumber resource on your admittedly flawless skin, and you’re just pestering me.”

“I get you like to have fun and hold suspense, but this isn’t funny anymore! Just tell me.”

“I will, I will.” Jeonghan handed off the cucumber bowl to another imp. “Hold on. I’ll make sure nobody will hear us.”

Us, Mingyu thought dully. What he thought would be a one-on-one conversation with Jeonghan had turned into a six-way network with possibly the worst people to discuss his love life with- for all five of these were heavily invested in his interest in Wonwoo.

“Chan!” Jeonghan shouted once more over all the students. “Chan, get over here!”

“Chan?” Seokmin asked, looking confused. “Soonyoung said he’s busy tonight, that's why Chan told him he couldn’t come to the snowball fight- _Lee Chan, what are you doing here_?”

Chan looked absolutely miserable as he appeared at their side, wearing a furry reindeer onesie. Minghao burst into laughter and Mingyu was left to ponder why both of Seungkwan’s best friends were so fashion-challenged today. 

“Look at him,” Jeonghan cooed, pinching Chan’s cheek. “Isn’t he adorable? I found the costume in the Room of Requirement.”

“He looks- like he’s- been tortured,” Minghao said between gasps of laughter. “Why’d- you put him- in that?”

“That’s not the worst of it,” Joshua said pityingly. 

“Not the worst of it?” Mingyu questioned. “What could be any worse?”

“Do it, go on,” Seungcheol egged on Chan, grinning.

Chan wearily opened his mouth, his lips moved, and only a _neigh_ came out. Chan closed his mouth again, not looking as mortified as one would expect- indicating that this party trick had been recycled many times tonight. 

“What did you do to him?” Mingyu said in horror.

“Deer Dictation, it’s in the ‘Book of Christmas Prank Spells, Thirteenth Edition’. I found it while I was looking for the costume,” Jeonghan said airily, tweaking one of Chan’s antlers. “It fades off after two hours, and he’s got- hmm, I’d say about 45 minutes left. It was consenting, though, don’t worry. He’s chill.”

“Who would consent to that?” Minghao giggled.

“I didn’t exactly tell him that he wouldn’t be able to do anything else than make reindeer sounds,” Jeonghan said, slightly apologetic as he ruffled Chan’s hair. “Oops.”

“I can’t believe this, Chan! You lied to Soonyoung about being busy, and are here, obliging your furry agenda and obeying Jeonghan and _neighing for people,_ ” Seokmin said incredulously.

Chan dipped his head in acknowledgement.

“Okay,” Seokmin exhaled, turning back to face the mirror. “That’s enough brain work for me today.”

“Chan, can you play some obnoxiously loud Christmas music so that nobody can hear us? We’ve got delicate topics to discuss.” Jeonghan asked. Chan nodded, and disappeared again.

“The poor kid,” Mingyu said, staring blankly at his reflection. Sometime between Chan’s arrival and departure Jeonghan had begun applying honey into his hair, and was now mixing cinnamon powder in.

“He’s having a great time,” Jeonghan said dismissively. “Plus, I’ve got him about five Christmas presents this year, all stuff he’s been into, you know. Miniature broomstick models and Peppermint Imps and joke candy and all those things itty-bitty fourth year babies like him love. He’ll forgive any hard feelings when he opens them. Meanwhile, your hair is going to look fabulous. The cinnamon’s gonna add these beautiful caramel tone highlights, I figured you’d probably want a lighter color so I decided not to do the cocoa-”

“This is going to dye my hair?” Mingyu said loudly. Luckily, it didn’t classify as a yell, only because Chan chose that minute to start playing Santa Tell Me. Technology didn’t work around Hogwarts, so Mingyu didn’t know how Chan had obtained the Ariana Grande vinyl disk for the bar’s record player so quickly. Holiday surprises. Or maybe something else Jeonghan had found in his hellish Room of Requirement search and kept handy for a moment like this. 

Jeonghan stared at him through the mirror. “Well, probably not as much as I’d like to do, seeing as you’ll be rushing off as soon as possible for your-”

“If you say date one more time-”

“But Gyu, your hair’s already dyed,” Seungcheol cut over Mingyu. “Puppy brown. This isn’t going to change it much.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t agree to Jeonghan changing or adding anything to it! I like my hair how it is.”

“Only ’cause Wonwoo complimented it when he saw him over this summer,” Minghao snickered.

“Shut up. And I did not agree to any of this, by the way,” Mingyu said frustratedly. “Look, I don’t want to sit here for the next half hour with this stuff drying on my face. Just tell me what you said to Wonwoo.”

“So,” Jeonghan said, with the air of dramatic reveal that meant Mingyu was finally getting something resembling an answer. “You know how my mom did all that voodoo fortune telling stuff, right? Way back when she was just out of Hogwarts?”

“Yeah, and?”

“Well, she was pretty darn good at it. So good that she passed it down to me.”

“I sense a scam,” Seokmin commented. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jeonghan extravagantly rubbed his palms together on top of Mingyu’s head. “Anyways, I’ve spent the past few years learning tarot and astrology from her, and even _I_ kind of took it all with a grain of salt until I realized that I could use it to fool people- in a nice way, of course.”

“Wait,” Seokmin said, sitting up as Joshua patiently let his scalp go. “So when you read my tarot in the first week of school this year and told me I’d be the lead in the school musical, you were fooling me?”

Jeonghan laughed nervously. “Well, you ended up making the lead, didn’t you?”  
Seokmin grumbled and sank back into his seat.

“What does this have to do with Wonwoo?” Mingyu asked cautiously.

“Well.” Jeonghan dabbed his fingers in the honey tray again, massaging it vigorously into Mingyu’s head. Mingyu didn’t know what he was going to look like when he went to meet the others and Wonwoo, but he just hoped that Jeonghan knew what he was doing. Seeing as Jeonghan now had not only Seungcheol but also Joshua completely whipped for him, he was pretty sure he was safe in the older’s hands- literally.

“A few days ago, I was just giving Wonwoo some positioning tips for his telescope in Astrology, and we wound up talking about all that sort of stuff and I found out that he’s actually pretty superstitious,” Jeonghan said, a devilish grin spreading on his lips. “So I invited dear Wonwoo to the Slytherin dormitory, specifically my private Head Boy chamber, for a tarot card reading. I have to admit that he was a bit skeptical, but he seemed to put a lot of trust into me after I reminded him about my mum’s previous line of business- of course I made her sound credible to him, despite my own doubts.”

Mingyu and Minghao shared an eye roll in the mirror. 

“And then, what do you have it, midway through the reading we were just chatting and I gave him an early invite to the party. And he said no, of course. Well, I was upset that he’d turned down my fiesta extravaganza so quickly and decided to do some twisting around of my own, you know.” 

Seungcheol gave Jeonghan a look of disapproval and the latter scoffed. “You know the cards aren’t real, Cheol, it’s all Divination bullshit. It doesn’t matter what I say, because I’m the only person there who can read them and it’s not like he knows the difference.” Jeonghan frowned. “Well, actually, I couldn’t remember what kind of event some of the cards signified so I took some creative liberties.”

“Dear god,” Mingyu moaned. “You’re such a liar.”

“So,” Jeonghan continued loudly, “I pretended that I wasn’t offended by his rejection and just accepted the cards that he pulled, made a few thinking faces, and gasped a few times for show. Actually, one of the gasps was real because I remembered that you’re in love with Wonwoo and you definitely won’t decline my invitation, so you’d be at my Christmas Eve party. And that’s when everything fell into place. That gasp. The real one.”

“One, I’m not in love with him, and two, based on whatever this story’s unfolding into I am definitely considering not coming.”

“One, you’re completely in over your head for him, and two, I’m setting your whole dormitory on fire if you make a shitty excuse to not come.” Jeonghan reached over Mingyu’s shoulder to curl his fingers back down from where he’d been holding them up to demonstrate his points. Jeonghan cleared his throat and continued. “So then, I had three puzzle pieces. First, Wonwoo can’t read tarot so I can say whatever crap I want. Second, he doesn’t want to come to my party, yet I want him to come and I need a good reason to convince him. Third, you’re in love with Wonwoo and you’re coming to my party. I just had to fit them together to form a plan.”

“You can’t make a puzzle with three pieces, you need at least four,” Minghao contradicted.

“Not true, I’ve solved some hexagonal puzzles,” Joshua answered seriously.

“Shua, you ruined the point,” Jeonghan whined, stomping his foot lightly. A drop of honey fell onto Mingyu’s forehead and he resisted the urge to reach up and smack Jeonghan for it. “I needed someone to say that I was missing a figurative puzzle piece so I could dazzle them with the fact that I’d already thought of that! Nobody cares for three-piece hexagonal puzzles!”

Seungcheol coughed to cover his laugh. 

Joshua sighed. “Alright. I take it back. Let’s pretend I didn’t say it.”

Jeonghan lit up again, and snapped his fingers in Minghao’s direction. “Exactly. Genius minded Slytherins think alike. And what I realized seconds later was that I _did_ have the metaphorical fourth piece. It was me. Me and my fantastic mind and manipulative lying skills.”

“How modest,” Mingyu yawned.

“I’ve got a few narcissistic tendencies, I admit,” Jeonghan shrugged. “So then… I combined these four puzzle pieces and a shining masterplan ignited in my head. And when I delivered my grand statement to him, at first I thought it wouldn’t work, at first I thought perhaps it was too cliched and not the kind of thing that’d get him… but boy was I wrong! Because he thought about it for a whole three minutes before telling me he’d come!”

“It’s 7:15. We’ll reach the end of this story by 9:30, and then I’ll be late, and Soonyoung will murder me, and I feel like we’ll still never find out what you actually said,” Mingyu commented, checking his watch. “Please, I know it’s terribly hard for you, but put a pause on the self praise and just get through the facts. Seokmin and I need to leave by 7:45 or we won’t make it back to the castle on time-”

“I told Wonwoo that he’d find the love of his life at my Christmas Eve party this Friday by the stroke of midnight.”

All six of them went silent. 

And then, a chuckle as Seungcheol finally failed in holding himself back from laughing. Minghao flung himself from his chair, clutching his sides as he curled up on the ground howling with mirth. Seokmin was giggling, Joshua was wearing a trademark exasperated yet amused expression, and Mingyu was staring at Jeonghan through the mirror with absolute disbelief.

“No you did not!” Mingyu exclaimed.

“Yes I did!”

“You’re such a liar! Nobody would believe that, it’s such a storybook cliche! Isn’t Cinderella copyrighted? I bet that’s where you stole it from!”

“Who cares where I drew inspiration from, it’s genius and it got him!” Jeonghan pranced around the chair in a circle of glee.

Mingyu would’ve got up and left the Hog’s Head that moment, but the cucumber was still drying on his face and his hair wasn’t recognizable as hair right now. So he merely put his face in his hands as best as he could without touching it and wondered what he’d done in his past life to deserve friends this terrifyingly mischievous.

“Call Santa and tell him that Yoon Jeonghan’s on the naughty list!” Jeonghan whooped with excitement, clambering onto Minghao’s empty chair and swinging his arms around in a circle. Seungcheol subsided into further laughter as he grabbed Jeonghan by the waist to keep him from falling, starting to dance easily to the Christmas songs still playing while keeping hold of the slim devil boy. Nobody else at this mess of a ‘class’ noticed this, probably because the room had descended to such a level of chaos after listening to holiday pop music that there wasn’t a single coherent thing happening in the whole bar right now.

“I’m sorry,” Joshua offered his condolences to Mingyu, but he was starting to smile too. “I don’t know what possesses him sometimes.”

Mingyu glanced over to find both Jeonghan and Minghao sniggering as they exchanged a rapid-fire conversation in Parseltongue, no doubt lauding Jeonghan for his brilliant trickery scheme.

“Gyu, maybe this is the blessing you’ve been waiting for!” Seokmin said brightly, clearly trying to see the positive. “Listen! Wonwoo must be crushing on someone, right? Because why else would he be so intrigued by what Jeonghan said? Intrigued enough to change his mind and decide to come? He’s clearly got someone in mind!”

“I’m not planning to ask him out at the party though! So he’s _not_ going to find the love of his life!” Mingyu turned to his left, to where Jeonghan was still partying on the chair. “Jeonghan. Were there any truths in the cards that Wonwoo pulled?”

Jeonghan shrugged. “One of them was a card that signifies a big change in his life. I took it to mean a new relationship. Tarot is flexible, you know?”

“Isn’t his family making that big brand deal soon, though?” Seungcheol brought up. “That’s something new and important.”

Mingyu pointed at Seungcheol in confirmation. “Right. It could mean anything. You’ve just…” Mingyu glanced back at his reflection. “Brought me here to be beautified to tell me something you could’ve told me in five minutes.”

“Aww, but come on Gyu,” Jeonghan said, hopping down from his position. “Your facial’s almost done.”

“If there was a refund for this service, I’d demand it,” Mingyu said as Jeonghan came to stand behind him again, looking at him through the mirror. 

“It feels like now you’ve got too many puzzle pieces though?” Minghao chuckled. “Wonwoo who thinks he’s coming to the party because he’ll find love, Mingyu who’s not brave enough to say anything…”

“They’ll figure it out, I don’t need to do everything for them,” Jeonghan flapped his hands. “You should thank Shua, Gyu, he’s the one who had the idea for the whole party. Without that idea, you wouldn’t get to meet Wonwoo under the mistletoe.”

“Thanks, Joshua. And there will be no mistletoe because there will be no kissing or proposing affection or whatever you wish to call it,” Mingyu said decisively.

Jeonghan blinked innocently. “That’s so rude to Seungcheol, Gyu.”

“What?” Both Mingyu and Seungcheol questioned as Minghao finally surfaced from the floor, still red cheeked from laughing. Upon catching sight of Seokmin’s still grinning countenance, Minghao went back under.

“I used Seungcheol’s money to purchase the holiday plants,” Jeonghan said as if it was nothing. “You know, poinsettias, Nargle bouquets, mistletoe… I bought it from the little flower shop in West Hogsmeade.” Jeonghan clasped his hands behind his back, tsking mockingly. “You’d insult the mistletoe I bought with Seungcheol’s money? How horrible.”

“You used my _what_?” Seungcheol exclaimed. 

“I said that already at the start of the sentence, Cheol, no point in looking so surprised now. Are all Gryffindors so slow?”

Joshua stifled his laugh, bending over Seokmin’s face to dab at the cucumber that’d gotten messed up when the latter had started laughing so exuberantly minutes prior.

“Okay, I think we should get going,” Mingyu said decisively, standing and turning around to face Jeonghan, who was still standing behind the chair. “Seokmin, come on, we might get late. Jeonghan, could you get this stuff off of us?”

“You could get this stuff off of yourself, slow Gryffindor,” Jeonghan said cheekily, merely pulling out his wand and booping the end of Mingyu’s nose with it. “ _Evanesco_.” Another tap at the top of his head, and Mingyu felt the stickiness leave his hair.

“Damn,” Minghao said approvingly, still sitting on the floor. “Look at yourself. Sexy!”

Mingyu turned and blinked at his reflection. As much as he’d rather eat a bag of Every Flavor Beans blindfolded than admit it… 

Jeonghan was right. As usual.

“So?” Jeonghan said impatiently as Mingyu took himself in. “What do you think?”

Mingyu’d thought his skin was made of pure beautiful glass before, but now it possessed a strong glow that nearly combated the moon. And his hair, which’d lost its usual bounce over the last few weeks of intense studying, had regained its likeness to the top of a chestnut- why not be festive with his descriptions, after all?- along with a dusting of lighter shades evenly sprinkled over his head. Even the sparkle in his eyes seemed brighter, although that couldn’t possibly be the work of Jeonghan and his weird beauty guru concoctions.

“Woah,” Mingyu managed, lightly poking his own cheek, which’d returned to its similarity to soft fluffy bakery bread- he hadn’t seen himself like this in months. “I look really good actually.”

Jeonghan dipped his head. “My early Christmas present for you, Gyu. That and my fake tarot act. You’re welcome. Just your guardian angel pulling all the strings so you can get that midnight kiss, Cinderella.”

“Not another word,” Mingyu warned.

“That’s not all,” Joshua said, appearing at his shoulder. “Seungcheol and I also have early gifts for you.”

“Alright,” Mingyu said, his temper restored to mellow with his new transformation. “Hit me with it.”

Joshua pressed a small plastic cylinder into his hands. “I went far to find this. Best for kissing. Might help your Wonwoo game. Did you know that vanilla is an aphrodisiac? I’ve read it in a 2015 study about stimulating-”

“What?” Mingyu choked, reading the label of the vanilla lip balm. “Oh- um… thanks.” Sometimes he wondered why Ravenclaws had to put so much thought in everything. It was slightly disturbing on occasions such as these. 

“And I’ve got this for you,” Seungcheol added, handing Mingyu a glass bottle that smelled like ocean waves and lavender. “I’m not sure if it’s an aphrodisiac, because I’m not weird like Shua. But I was going cologne-scenting a few days ago and figured you’d like this one. Maybe you could wear it tonight, I heard in passing from Soonyoung that Wonwoo likes scents from the place I bought this from,” Seungcheol suggested in a gentle way that Mingyu was very thankful for. He had to admit that he often went to Seungcheol for crush advice and friend advice and… kind of all advice, really. Seungcheol was the closest thing Mingyu had to an older brother- well, apart from Jeonghan and Joshua too. 

“Thanks, hyung,” Mingyu said, touched enough to break the reminder he’d given to Hansol today at breakfast, and showering Seungcheol with the honorific they rarely used because they were so far from home most of the year. “That’s… really kind of you, actually.”

“I get the kid literal aphrodisiac and he doesn’t thank me,” Joshua said exasperatedly, ruffling Mingyu’s hair nevertheless. “Science will never win, I suppose. There, your hair looks a little more puppy-ish. Suits you better.”

“I thought we’re trying to make Mingyu look like a man?” Minghao asked as Mingyu hugged Joshua tightly- _“Of course I loved your gift too, Shua hyung!”_

Jeonghan sighed, clapping Mingyu on the back as Seokmin finally stood to join them, having spent a few minutes silently trying to vanish all the stuff off his hair and face. Seokmin looked just as amazing, all flawless skin and pretty hair. “Well, he already does look like a man. Seungcheol, tell them.”

“I’ve told Mingyu to just rip off his shirt in front of Wonwoo and show him all those hours in the gym, but he’s too shy to do that,” Seungcheol explained. “And plus, I know Mingyu looks great but you know he’d just giggle two seconds later and shatter the whole image.”

“Hang on,” Mingyu frowned, ignoring the jibe about his tendency to be unable to keep a serious face on. “Both of you-” he indicated Seungcheol and Joshua- “bought me these with me flirting with Wonwoo in mind.” He turned to Jeonghan, exasperated. “Did you already tell them about your whole tarot card thing from a few days ago? There’s no other way they bought me such… romance-y gifts.”

“Of course, they’re always the first to know when I spill or boil any sort of tea, if you know what I mean,” Jeonghan grinned.

“Perfect,” Mingyu sighed as Seokmin checked the time.

“Gyu, it’s 7:30. We should probably start walking back, thirty minutes is cutting it fine in the snow.”

“Okay. I think I’ve got to get changed, too, and you as well. Soonyoung’s probably planning ambush-mode or something, and I don’t want to get snow on my work pants.” Mingyu chanced a glance at Minghao, who’d resumed his facial. Seungcheol was now intently brushing streaks of cocoa into Minghao’s dark hair. “Hao… you’re staying?”

“Mhm,” Minghao replied, eyes closed, merely giving them a thumbs up as Mingyu put the borrowed scarf back in Minghao’s lap. 

“Cool. Um… have fun, I guess.” 

“You know what this is unraveling like?” Joshua said suddenly. 

“What do you mean?” Seokmin asked.

“That Muggle classic, A Christmas Carol. There were five staves- the introduction, the three nights, and the finale. Except we have more days left in our week than that story, so we have an introduction, and the four nights until the party- the first one being tonight, and then the party would be the ending. So six staves.” Joshua beamed. “It’s like Mingyu’s love story, but as a classic. This morning, when he got the invitation, it’d be like the first stave. One event each night this week, the next four staves. Then the final stave would be his kiss at the stroke of midnight.”

“This isn’t a carol, it’s a chaos,” Mingyu replied darkly.

“But chaos can be just as sweet as a carol,” Jeonghan remarked.

Mingyu gave his shining reflection another glance, and a tentative smile crept onto his lips. “Come on, Seokie. We’ve got a snowball fight to get to.”

❆

“They’re gonna be late!” Soonyoung grumbled, kicking at a clump of snow. “It’s 7:57!”

Wonwoo shivered, sniffling as he jumped lightly in place. He should’ve brought his earmuffs, or at the very least a scarf.

“If they’re late, what will we do to them?” Seungkwan asked seriously, jumping down from the small connecting pier between two pillars that he’d been balancing on. Wonwoo glanced his way to make sure the younger boy had made it safely back onto the ground despite the pier being only three feet tall, and then looked away as soon as he could. Seungkwan had arrived to the courtyard dressed as ‘Father Boo’ in a whole Santa costume that didn’t look too great, to be honest.

The plus was that Seungkwan was shivering even more than Wonwoo was right now, so he was pretty sure that Hansol was going to take off his cloak and give it to his best friend in a gentlemanly way, effectively covering part of Seungkwan’s fashion disaster outfit from view. 

“We should grab them and… hm!” Soonyoung perked up, the cold not seeming to affect him at all as he beamed and pointed off at the other end of the courtyard, where the torches ignited two figures shuffling towards them.

Wonwoo’s eyes immediately landed on Mingyu, maybe because he was just slightly taller than Seokmin and tall people caught Wonwoo’s attention easier, or maybe because- 

The pair passed under another torch, illuminating Mingyu’s gleaming toffee hair decorated with streaks of burnt umber. Yet another torch was passed, and this time Mingyu’s sharp, bright features were cast into light, the younger boy looking immeasurably handsome and glowy, eyes glimmering with the joy of the crisp icy night as he damn near skipped over, Seokmin matching him in pace and enthusiasm.

Wonwoo dimly registered that Seokmin looked great too, but Mingyu had stolen his interest the second he’d walked into the courtyard.

“Ooh,” Seungkwan said, bounding up to Seokmin and crushing him in a hug before reciprocating with Mingyu. “Why do your guys’ faces look so pretty? Wearing makeup or something?”

Mingyu jokingly shoved Seungkwan off him. “Shut up, I always look like this. You’d be jealous if I ever put makeup on.”

Yes, Mingyu always looked undeniably breathtaking, but tonight there was just something magical in the air around him.

Hansol cackled. “Did you guys go to Jeonghan’s facial thing?”

Was Wonwoo hallucinating or did Mingyu glance his way, looking slightly harried as he turned red and answered, “It’s not like we got specially ready to get snow pounded into our faces! We went there for other reasons and ended up like this!” Mingyu gestured at his face, soft dark hair flopping over his forehead barely seconds after he’d raked it off in his frustration to convey the point. 

Wonwoo almost scoffed. Mingyu was talking like he’d received a plastic surgery that’d beautified every feature of his face when he probably woke up looking better than 99% of Hogwarts’ population. 

_Stop it, Jeon. He’s a year younger than you. What’s wrong with you today? That’s weird as hell. Mingyu? Really? Get a grip._

“Now that we’re all here and are done discussing spa treatments,” Soonyoung drew out the last word as if he’d died of boredom while listening to them. “Let’s get into teams. Split into two groups of three. I call Wonwoo!”

“I want Seungkwan!” both Hansol and Seokmin chimed, Hansol darting forward to take Seungkwan’s hand to secure his position. 

Wonwoo nearly laughed at the lost puppy expression Mingyu gave his best friend as Seokmin rushed to grab Seungkwan’s other hand, Mingyu employing his wide saucer eyes that resembled those of a newborn labrador. Or maybe golden retriever?

Wonwoo shook his head and snapped himself out of it just in time to see Mingyu stick his tongue out childishly at Seokmin, tramping through the snow to grab onto Soonyoung’s arm, clinging to it. “Then I call Soonyoung. I don’t need you either, Seokie.” 

“Sorry, Gyu, I had to do this,” Seokmin answered solemnly, sharing a cheeky grin with Seungkwan. “Boo’s best when it comes to physical games.”

“Only because he ignores every rule in the book to trample his poor opponents to the ground,” Wonwoo murmured amusedly, ambling over to where Soonyoung and Mingyu stood. “Alright. I’ll play with you two.”

“Just so you know, we’re very serious about winning,” Soonyoung said, eyes narrowed as he stared across the courtyard to where the other three were already rejoicing. Mingyu did his best to reciprocate the glare, and it might’ve worked if he’d actually straightened out his broad shoulders and stood up tall at six foot two like he rarely did, but he really just (still) looked like an ambitious puppy with tousled chocolate toned hair mussed over his forehead and his red and gold scarf wrapped warmly around his neck. 

Wonwoo tried not to laugh as he nodded and followed the other five into the grounds. “Yep. I’m absolutely as determined to win as you two. What’s the prize, may I ask?”

“How about a kiss from me?” Soonyoung suggested, kicking snow out of the way so Mingyu, already a clumsy entity, could walk without endangering himself too severely. “I think we’d all want that. Or a chance to slap Boo’s ass.”

“The BOO-ty!” Seokmin hooted from Mingyu’s other side. Apparently enmities were on hold for right now, at least until they got to the designated warzone. 

“I know you’re not just offering up my ass as a prize, _Kwon_ ,” Seungkwan threatened teasingly, elbowing Seokmin out of the way and leaning over Mingyu to accuse Soonyoung. 

“And if I was, _Boo_?” 

“Then you’re going to get a big BOO-ty slap from it!”

“I said a prize,” Wonwoo remarked dryly. “Not punishment.”

“Always a pleasure, Won.” Soonyoung grinned back at him, his expression turning into one of surprised amusement when Mingyu took his moment of distraction to pinch some snow off the ground and press it to Soonyoung’s cheek. 

Wonwoo chuckled under his breath at the sound of Mingyu’s high-pitched giggle of satisfaction at Soonyoung’s reaction. He tucked his chin into his jacket, dragging on behind them as he always did, watching from afar. 

Always playfully adorable, that Kim Mingyu. 

Wonwoo had known Mingyu since they were elementary schoolers, their magical families and Ministry parents interacting often at parties. Since they were little, Wonwoo had observed Mingyu being absolutely off-the-rails energetic when the younger hadn’t noticed Wonwoo looking. This had progressed for a few years even when they’d come to Hogwarts, until a few years ago when Mingyu had started stiffening up and portraying maturity- only when Wonwoo turned his attention in Mingyu’s direction. 

Wonwoo wasn’t quite sure why Mingyu did that, changing himself around Wonwoo only. Perhaps it was just Wonwoo’s ‘grown-up’ aura that had Mingyu feeling that he had to start acting more responsible around him to be taken seriously. He’d spent a lot of time thinking about this, really, because Mingyu’s behavior was puzzling to him and Ravenclaws absolutely hated that feeling of not being able to figure someone out.

At first, he’d thought that maybe Mingyu didn’t like him after coming to Hogwarts or didn’t feel comfortable around him. Then he realized that Mingyu had thought that Wonwoo didn’t like _him_ and was therefore trying to make himself someone that Wonwoo would enjoy the company of. 

Wonwoo wished Mingyu wouldn’t do that. It made him feel a little upset sometimes, because there’d been occasions where Mingyu had loosened up and acted like his normal self before making a reaction like he’d just made a mistake, coupled with a few glances in Wonwoo’s direction before screwing up tighter than a clam for the next few minutes. It made Wonwoo wonder partly why Mingyu felt he wouldn’t be liked by Wonwoo as his own bubbly self, and it also made Wonwoo rack his head for long periods of time of why Mingyu was so hell-bent on making himself likable to Wonwoo. He didn’t have to try hard. Wonwoo adored the cheerful boy just as much as any of the other younger ones, maybe even more so because he’d grown to pity Mingyu’s back-and-forth behavior and therefore spent much of every friend gathering watching him fondly and a little sadly whenever Mingyu saw him looking and tightened up again with a clean posture and a polite little smile that didn’t suit him at all. 

Uptight as he may seem, Wonwoo was best friends with _Soonyoung_. It was pretty clear that he had a lot of patience for childishness. But there was no way to convey that to Mingyu. It was part of the reason that Wonwoo walked behind the group now, so that he could just watch Mingyu be Mingyu. He was pretty sure that if he was walking in line with all of them now, Mingyu would be that hardened, fake version of himself. 

And Mingyu didn’t have to change himself for anyone. He was a talented Quidditch player, smart, handsome, kind and sweet, talented in so many of the fine arts, well rounded, always helpful and happy and thinking about his friends. He was a perfect person already. 

The pair of them didn’t really interact much in their friend circle, but Wonwoo always enjoyed watching Mingyu from far off, when the younger didn’t see him smiling to himself at all of Mingyu’s childlike antics. 

Speak of the devil, as Mingyu had apparently decided to utilize aforementioned childlike antics up ahead by pushing Seungkwan, sending the younger toppling straight into the snow. Grabbing Soonyoung as they haphazardly made their way a few feet aside, Mingyu began laughing as Soonyoung excitedly announced, “GAME START! REMEMBER MAGIC CAN _ONLY_ BE USED ON THE SNOW AND NOT-”

Soonyoung had no further than issued half the sentence before Hansol’s perfectly formed snowball hit him straight in the mouth, and with a roar of competitive spirit that really only Gryffindors could possess, he began furiously making a snowball in reply, Mingyu aiding him with maximum enthusiasm. Seungkwan and his cronies had already rushed further down the field, and Seokmin was rapidly constructing a fort with his wand, Seungkwan lobbing balls over the quickly-building low walls before ducking down to retrieve more from Hansol, no doubt. Competitive, indeed. 

Wonwoo jogged over to his team through the snow, finding himself laughing at the pair’s attempts to form the snowball nicely. “You can use magic to make them, you know. Shall I send it over?”

“Could you?” Mingyu asked hopefully, peeking up at Wonwoo through his fluffy bangs.

“Of course. I’m not much good at making snowballs, anyway, might as well make use of my skill in Charms,” Wonwoo shrugged, pulling out his wand and flicking it up into the air. “ _Wingardium Leviosa,_ ” he requested calmly, and the snowball gradually raised itself to his eye level. “ _Depulso!_ ”

The ball shot through the air and smashed into the corner of the fort, causing it to crumble.

“Woah,” Mingyu said, staring wide-eyed at it as Seungkwan’s shrieks of _“Rebuild it, quick! Reparo, reparo!”_ echoed across the ten feet of separation they had. “You should play Beater for the Ravenclaw team.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think they let you use Banishing Spells in Quidditch, and I’m pretty sure that I’m too weak to lift the actual bat,” Wonwoo reminded Mingyu, grabbing the ball Soonyoung hefted in his hands. “Right, here’s the next one- _depulso_!”

More frantic screeching from the other end of the field, and Mingyu beamed at Wonwoo. “Mine never go that strongly. That’s so cool.”

“Well, I’m not very good at throwing them with my bare hands,” Wonwoo replied, dusting off his hands as a tremor of cold ran down his body.

Mingyu cocked his head, eyes shining from the light spilling onto the snow-blanketed grounds from the castle’s many lit windows. “Hyung, are you cold?”

“You don’t have to call me that,” Wonwoo reassured him. For gods sake, Wonwoo was trying to get Mingyu comfortable around him and adding a honorific in between them was the last thing he needed. “And no, I’m fine,” Wonwoo added, unfortunately having to shiver just as he finished that sentence.

“You _are_ cold!” Mingyu pulled his scarf off without a second of hesitation, and moments later Wonwoo was wrapped up in a warmth that smelled of sea salt and lavender fields. His knees nearly gave out beneath him. The scent was heavenly. Mingyu had good taste in cologne.

“You’ve got to stay warm, hyung, Soonyoung always talks about how you get sick easily,” Mingyu added seriously, having temporarily abandoned the game and now intently making sure Wonwoo’s coat zipper was up to its extremity. Once that’d been confirmed, he pressed his mittens into Wonwoo’s hands. “You take them. I’m always warm, I don’t even need them. I just wear them because Minghao gets mad at me if I don’t.” 

“You really don’t have to call me hyung,” Wonwoo said, his voice muffled in Mingyu’s scarf. “Just Won is fine.”

“Really?” Mingyu’s smile could’ve lit up every star in the sky. Wonwoo felt like he was being blinded. “Okay!”

“Oi! Help me out here!” Soonyoung shouted from the other end of the fort- since when had they been standing in their own fort? As if to answer Wonwoo’s unspoken question, Soonyoung followed up with, “I’ve been busy while you two have been canoodling over there!”

“I don’t think you know what that word means,” Wonwoo said as they hurried over to help him send the snowballs over, making eye contact with Mingyu and smiling to thank him for the scarf, feeling his smile double with the one he got back in reply. 

And laughter bubbled from Mingyu’s lips as Wonwoo, having been distracted by smiling at him, had gone completely unawares of his unprotected position and therefore being knocked to the ground by a snowball bigger than his head.

Wonwoo stared up at the dark sky and listened to his friends laugh before they transitioned back into the usual war chanting and death threats, smiling to himself.

❆

“So… who exactly was the winner?” Wonwoo panted as they straggled through the snow back to the castle. His jeans were absolutely soaked, he couldn’t feel his fingers or toes, and there were clumps of still-melting snow on his hair. Not to mention that his glasses were completely useless now that so many snowflakes had melted on them and left water spots. But he couldn’t remember the last time in weeks that he’d had so much fun.

“How does one determine a winner?” Mingyu replied, shaking snow out of his hair, the tiny flakes catching on his delicate eyelashes and giving him the appearance of a mystical snow fairy. Mingyu’s cheeks were blooming with color from having spent the last few hours laughing so hard, and he truly looked as if he’d given up the whole ‘act different around Wonwoo’ pretense.

“Well, we look at both teams and see which one looked like they suffered more,” Soonyoung explained, dragging his coat along behind him. Soonyoung was, true to his nature, that one person who got so worked up doing anything outside midwinter that they’d just rip their jacket off and carry it around in the freezing weather and look like a lunatic to everyone else.

Wonwoo snorted. Soonyoung _was_ a lunatic.

“I definitely think you all suffered more,” Seungkwan said seriously, still shivering as they stepped inside the Entrance Hall. Filch was lingering by the doors, staring shrewdly at nearly-latecomers (around this time of the year many students went on winter walks around the grounds or skated on the lake before curfew). 

Filch glared at them with disgust as they trekked inside, Soonyoung’s coat accounting for much of the snow being dragged in along with them.

“Nasty students!” The man muttered, shutting the doors behind them with an audible bang. “Depraving the castle… bringing in such filth…” 

“Sorry,” Wonwoo said apologetically to the man. He had to take responsibility somehow as the maturest amongst this batch of idiots.

Filch hissed in his direction, scooping up Mrs. Norris and limping off. 

“Old grinch,” Seokmin said, dusting snow off his shoulders. “Anyways, you all lost, just admit it.”

Hansol agreed vehemently, stripping off his soaked sweater as they continued walking. “Now for the penalty.”

“Anything that doesn’t involve broomsticks,” Wonwoo said.

Seungkwan blinked innocently. “Why is that?”

“Because I’ve never flown before and I don’t want to die doing some dumb stunt.”

“You’ve never flown?” Hansol exclaimed. 

Soonyoung nodded on Wonwoo’s behalf. “Miserable, isn’t he? I can’t believe he’s my best friend.”

“Then the penalty…” Seokmin’s eyes glinted in a way that was definitely not very Hufflepuff and was very Jeonghan- always thinking a few steps ahead. “Soonyoung should take Wonwoo flying someplace tomorrow night.”

“But that’s against the rules,” Soonyoung objected. “Aerial sports should play in the pitch. And you’re not allowed to schedule flying practice past ten.”

“Right, so you, flawless Captain, won’t do it,” Seokmin said, half cutting over Soonyoung. “That’s fine, actually. You have to set a good example and all that.” Seokmin was talking quickly, like he had a plan, like he’d set the whole situation up knowing Soonyoung would decline.

A dull sense of foreboding began pressing down on Mingyu’s shoulders as Seokmin glanced his way, still smirking. “But someone has to punish Wonwoo because he was the person who contributed the least in the game. So how about Mingyu? I think the penalty would be more meaningful if his own teammate gave it to him.”

“What?” Mingyu choked out. Everyone turned his way, leaving Seokmin to wink at Mingyu, detection free as he mouthed the words “ _I’m your best wingman_ ” seconds later. 

Wonwoo was looking at him, already looking uncomfortable with the idea of flying. Mingyu knew Wonwoo was scared of heights and would happily spend the rest of his life never getting near a broomstick. 

“Yeah,” Seungkwan said, excited. “Mingyu should give Wonwoo the penalty.” 

“I think that’s actually a good idea,” Hansol mused. 

“Guys-” Mingyu started. 

“It’s settled,” Seokmin clapped once. “Mingyu will take Wonwoo flying tomorrow night.”

“But the pitch closes at 10,” Mingyu repeated.

Seokmin’s grin was frighteningly similar to Jeonghan’s. “Who on earth said we’re planning this to be at the pitch?” 

☽

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so a lot went down
> 
> jeonghan and the libra energy XDDD i relate oml
> 
> this chapter was PACKED so i expect the comment section to be as well!! there’s so much to comment on (jeonghans beauty tips, the big reveal of the Plan, mysterious tarot readings, chan’s onesie, wonwoo being whipped, tomorrow’s penalty.. i really filled this chapter up lmao)
> 
> please don’t be a silent reader, i’ve spent hours of work on this fic and it would make my day to see your support! 
> 
> all the love, happy holidays <3  
> -mingyuwu


	3. STAVE III. The Second Of The Four Nights.

The wind atop the Astronomy Tower whipped around the cloaks of the huddled boys, its playful caress sending hair tousling onto pale foreheads as the shivering mass gathered closer.

“You’re absolutely insane, you know that?” Wonwoo hissed at Jihoon, who was grinning smugly. “I should’ve never told you about this when I got back to the dormitory last night. Of course you’d suggest such a stupid place for this.”

Jihoon grinned back at him. “That’s best friends for you.”

“Beasts and bitches, we welcome you to stave three of ‘A Christmas Chaos’,” Seokmin announced in a grand voice. “I, as MC tonight, am delighted to introduce the eight of you to tonight’s adventures, location courtesy of Jihoon, who rushed to tell me the place he had in mind for the penalty first thing today at breakfast. Which is, of course, seeing as you all found your way here promptly on time, right here.”

“Beasts and bitches?” Seungkwan furrowed his eyebrows.

“Stave three of ‘A Christmas Chaos’?” Hansol questioned after.

“And who made you MC?” Chan sniped. 

Seokmin grinned at them. “Beasts and bitches as a tip of the hat to nonbinary pronouns, in case there’s anyone present here that doesn’t identify as gendered. I heard about it somewhere, and it’s meaningful, so. Stave three in referral to something Joshua said yesterday, and since he’s not here right now, I’ll take the liberty of explaining. Basically, the essence of it is Mingyu’s fairytale roma-” Seokmin broke off at Mingyu’s glare. “Nevermind. And I made myself MC, seeing as I’m the person who devised this penalty. Are our contenders ready?”

“I guess,” Wonwoo said, swallowing hard. “Did we really have to do this at 11 PM? It’s past curfew, none of us are supposed to be out of bed, and I’m pretty sure this is breaking a lot of rules.” 

Mingyu had taken the last few minutes to subtly watch Wonwoo. He’d never seen the older boy look so scared. Wonwoo was paler than usual, and his breathing was shaky too. Mingyu felt bad for him, but reminded himself that the reason he’d grudgingly agreed to this was because he’d hoped to show Wonwoo the beauty of flying and how much fun it could be if Wonwoo got past his fear of heights.

Tonight, there were nine of them present- Jeonghan, Joshua, Seungcheol, and Soonyoung had all declined the proposal to come watch. Mingyu tranced out slightly, remembering the events at lunch- after Seokmin had caught him in first hour Herbology to explain the details of tonight’s penalty.

_ “Can’t,” Jeonghan sighed. “It’d be a horrible thing if us Head Boys were present and we all got caught.” _

__ _ Mingyu glared at him. “You’re the one who’s supposed to support me!” _

__ _ Jeonghan placed his hands on Mingyu’s shoulders. “You’re gonna do great, Gyu. And as a plus, your face is still as pretty as yesterday after my facial. You’re welcome,” he finished solemnly. _

__ _ “Sorry, Gyu,” Seungcheol added. “I think it’d be real fun, but Han’s right. We’d set a bad example if we were there.” _

__ _ “Cheol hyung, they’re asking me to fly with Wonwoo,” Mingyu said hoarsely. “I can’t do this. It’s too intimate.” _

__ _ “You’ll do fine, just don’t let him fall off and it’ll all be okay,” Seungcheol said, which was probably the least helpful advice he’d ever given Mingyu at the most crucial time. _

__ _ “We don’t plan on endorsing students out of bed past curfew and flying off Astronomy Towers,” Joshua finished. “But you nine can have fun.” _

__ _ “Nine?” Mingyu frowned. “But it’s ten of us if you three don’t come.” _

__ _ Jeonghan scoffed. “Soonyoung’s not coming either. As Gryffindor Quidditch captain, he’s decided not to partake in spectating tonight’s penalty because if you all get caught he’s going to be in a lot of trouble for knowingly letting his teammate break the rules regarding aerial sports.” _

__ _ “Seokmin said we’re not breaking any rules. He said there’s loopholes.” _

__ _ “Apparently the loopholes are too small for Soonyoung to want to risk it.” _

__ _ “Wear your aphrodisiacs and you’ll blow Wonwoo away,” Joshua added reassuringly. “Vanilla and lavender… that combination. Wow.” _

__ _ “Can you not?” Seungcheol teased. _

__ _ “I’m just- science is so sexy sometimes.” _

__ _ “Yeah, sex science is, obviously.” _

__ _ “Don’t taint him, he’s innocent,” Jeonghan snapped at the other two, covering Mingyu’s ears. _ _  
_ __ _ Mingyu pulled away from Jeonghan’s hands. “You’re the one who gave me the tainted Christmas Eve invite. I’m still scarred.” _

__ _ “Anyway, good luck tonight,” Seungcheol said hurriedly. “Don’t fuck it up. And we’ll be watching.” _

__ _ “Watching how?” _

__ _ “I gave Seungkwan my polaroid camera and he’s gonna get the pictures for us,” Jeonghan shrugged. “I threatened him that I’d cut his balls off if the pictures weren’t good, so try flying a little slowly because I’m sure he’s really thinking that I’d do that and probably panicking about not getting quality footage.” Jeonghan stomped his foot irritably. “I miss my smartphone. Why does Hogwarts have everything but wifi? I wish we could bring technology here.” _

__ _ “Be glad polaroids even work here,” Joshua said darkly. “I miss mechanical pencils. I mean, do we really need quills-” _

__ _ “Quills are part of the aesthetic,” Seungcheol argued back, and soon the three were immersed in bickering like three irritated heads of a hydra. _

__ _ Mingyu sighed. There was no help here. _

__ _ Earning a chorus of ‘bye, good luck’ from all three as he gave his parting, he turned and headed to the Gryffindor table, wondering what was to become of him tonight. _

“We really shouldn’t be doing this,” Wonwoo pressed urgently, pulling Mingyu out of his thoughts. “Can’t we-”

“Let’s go over the rules,” Seokmin said, ignoring Wonwoo. “Mingyu and Wonwoo have to be in the air for at least seven minutes to fulfill the penalty. They also have to be flying at a height that is greater than three hundred feet; Mingyu can approximate. Wonwoo cannot close his eyes, and he must sit at the front of the broomstick. We’ll add the exception that if Wonwoo completely freaks out- like crying or something like that- Mingyu can land and end the penalty early.”

“Do I  _ have _ to sit in the front?” Wonwoo exclaimed.

“Yes,” Seokmin said, continuing to read off the sparkly MC cue cards that he’d no doubt created just for tonight (trust only Seokmin to go all out). “And… I made sure to add an explanation for that because I knew one of you would object. Mingyu has to sit behind you because he needs to make sure you’re following the rules and keeping your eyes open. If he sits in front and tries looking back at you he’s risking your safety because he can’t see what’s going on-”

“I spend half a Quidditch game looking anywhere but in front of me,” Mingyu said, feeling more confident than he usually did around Wonwoo. Sure, he didn’t know how to flirt smoothly or give Wonwoo any sign that he was interested, but Mingyu knew flying and he knew he was definitely one of the best fliers his team- and maybe all of Hogwarts- had ever seen. He hadn’t earned his position as the Seeker of the Gryffindor team by falling off his broomstick every two seconds. And although he was teased endlessly for being clumsy, he knew how deft and sharp he could be on a broomstick. There were no concerns there. “I can manage. Wonwoo’s going to flip out if he sits in the front.”

“The second reason for this,” Seokmin said loudly, running over the end of Mingyu’s sentence, “is so that if Wonwoo ends up fainting Mingyu can catch him. Mingyu’ll have his arms around Wonwoo anyway, which we decided would be helpful because, to be fair, this is Won’s first time on a broomstick and he needs to feel like someone else is there for him.”

“This feels like a couple challenge,” Wonwoo groaned, his nerves causing him to sit down on the Astronomy Tower’s stone floor, then, upon finding that unsatisfactory as a method to ground himself, laying down completely. “Fly a broomstick together.”

“Let’s make it one, then,” Seokmin said, smirking as if he’d known someone would say that too. “Minwon couple challenge.”

“Minwon?” Seungkwan snickered. Junhui and Jihoon were stifling their laughter, and Hansol and Chan were wide eyed as Minghao smiled to himself. 

“It’s their couple name, of course.”

Mingyu was going to kill Seokmin. “I don’t think we need a couple name,” he said, glaring at Seokmin’s grinning figure. He was having way too fun with this whole MC business. “Wonwoo’s uncomfortable enough with flying, don’t make him feel weird-”

“Don’t bother, Wonwoo’s an outed bi, he doesn’t give a fuck,” Jihoon said airily.

Wonwoo remained on the floor, raising his hand in a rude gesture. “Who said you could tell everyone?” He said mildly, but one could tell from his voice that he couldn’t care.

Mingyu actually felt his heart do a flip, and nearly stumbled over. 

Wonwoo was not straight.

Jeon Wonwoo was bi.

Jeon Wonwoo was into guys just as much as girls.

“And he leans towards boys,” Junhui added. “So he’s really not going to mind your couple jokes.”

Dear god.

Jeon Wonwoo was more into guys than girls. 

Minghao clapped. “Great, well, Mingyu’s pansexual so nobody here’s going to feel weird. Let’s do this.”

“Hao!” Mingyu’s face burned. He didn’t have a problem with people knowing his sexuality, but Minghao saying that right after Wonwoo’s identity was revealed to everyone sounded very suggestive and very close to dangerous Mingyu’s-Big-Crush-On-Wonwoo territory.

“Let’s get this party started!” Seokmin whooped. “Gyu, you brought your broom right?”

“Oh no,” Wonwoo moaned as Mingyu nodded and retrieved his Firebolt from the corner where he’d put it. “This feels so much more real now that I’ve seen the damn thing…”

As the others converged around Wonwoo to drag him up from the floor, Mingyu dropped his voice as he beckoned his best friends over.

“Seok, what are you doing?” Mingyu whispered angrily as the three of them put their heads together.

Seokmin was practically levitating with glee. “Shipping you two. Aggressively. In front of a crowd. Herd mentality. Everyone likes the sound of ‘minwon’, everyone chants for ‘minwon’, everyone falls in love with the idea of ‘minwon’, and then ‘minwon’ fall in love with ‘minwon’. One way ticket to paradise.”

“He’s executing it really well,” Minghao admitted. “He showed me his script earlier tonight- the cue cards.”

“Thanks, Jeonghan helped me write it,” Seokmin smiled.

“You’re being too obvious, though!” Mingyu hissed. “He’s going to suspect something’s up. Seok, you’re overdoing it, by a lot!”

Seokmin’s eyes shone with pleading. “Gyu, I did this for you. I thought this through the whole snowball fight yesterday and decided this was the perfect opportunity for you to show Wonwoo what you were good at. I set it all up for Soonyoung to say no to flying him and for you to accept this. I set this up for Wonwoo to sit in front so you could hold him and he could feel what that was like. You give the best hugs and I know you won’t be actually hugging him because you’ll need to navigate the broom, but it’s similar. Plus, he can feel your muscly body around his. That’s pretty hot, too. Don’t diss all my effort like this.”

Mingyu sighed. He couldn’t deny that Seokmin’s hard work, although something he hadn’t asked for, wasn’t touching in its own way. “Fine. Thank you. I mean, I think I’m just flustered by the idea of this right now, but I’m sure I’ll feel thankful and be able to show you my gratefulness afterwards.” Mingyu glanced over. Wonwoo was still laying on the ground with an expression of nervous discomfort on his face, Junhui straining to lift him up as Jihoon giggled and pulled at his arms. Seungkwan was tickling Wonwoo, Chan was laughing, and Hansol was tying Wonwoo’s shoes (unnecessary for flying, but appreciated in its own way). “Okay. Give me tips, then, if you’ve thought this through. How exactly do I flirt with him while he’s panicking because he’s on a broom hundreds of feet off the ground at pitch dark night-”

“Can you just be bold once?” Minghao begged. “Just for once. He needs your comfort. Show him your manly side. You can restrain your urge to do that high-pitched laugh for seven minutes, right? Just be hot. Really hot. Like, sexy badass bastard Kim Mingyu. Star Quidditch player Kim Mingyu. Here-” Minghao unbuttoned Mingyu’s cloak for him. “Give him that, he’s already shivering. You’ve got a sweater on underneath, anyway, and you don’t ever feel as cold as he probably does. And use that low voice you’ve got. The husky, deep one. Make him feel like you’re in charge, that you’ve got him covered.”

“What-”

Cheers broke out a few feet away, and they broke apart to see Wonwoo standing there, arms crossed over himself, looking uneasy as he stared at the broomstick.

Mingyu took a deep breath. 

This was more than just him being anxious of being so close to Wonwoo. 

Wonwoo was actually really scared. Mingyu could see it in the older boy’s darting eyes, looking everywhere but at the broom and the edge of the tower. Mingyu couldn’t lose his focus because of his crush on Wonwoo, he couldn’t be in his love dreamland while Wonwoo looked like he was about to collapse with fear. Mingyu was the expert here and Wonwoo needed to know that he was safe. Yes, the penalty was cruel, but Mingyu had the chance to make it not so bad. 

So Mingyu pushed his shoulders back and stood up straight and strode over, pulling off his cloak as he went.

Wonwoo’s eyes went straight to Mingyu’s impressive arms, flicking down to Mingyu’s toned torso right after, and Mingyu tried not to grin. Seungcheol was right. Mingyu really should wear form-fitting clothes more often. Imagine if he’d come here with short sleeves. 

“Wear that,” Mingyu said, tossing the cloak into Wonwoo’s arms. “You look cold.”

And for the first time in his life, Jeon Wonwoo went completely speechless. Not a single word left his lips as he looked up at Mingyu- those few inches of height difference- and gazed right into his eyes as he slipped into the cloak. 

“Let’s go.” 

❆

Wonwoo couldn’t form a single coherent sentence as he followed Mingyu to the edge of the tower.

From the back, Mingyu’s shoulders were so broad that Wonwoo could’ve probably fit an ocean in the space between them. And gods, he was actually way taller than Wonwoo had predicted- Mingyu hadn’t stood this straight and confident in front of Wonwoo, ever.

Mingyu turned around to look at him when they’d reached the edge, eyebrows slightly furrowed against the wind. “Ready?”

Wonwoo nodded, his heart palpitating wildly. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the strange way Mingyu was gazing at him, or the thought of actually getting on a broom, or the scent of Mingyu’s lavender cologne drifting up to him from the warm cloak snugly fastened to his shoulders. 

Everyone clustered around them, Minghao joining the group a few seconds late- he’d dragged a telescope over from one of the stands students used to observe the stars, and was now tuning it to observe events a little more close-up than the night sky- Wonwoo didn’t think Mingyu was going to take him that high up.

Mingyu held out the Firebolt, and let go- it remained hovering in the air, humming slightly, perfectly attuned with its master.

“Get on, as slowly as you want. I promise it’s not going anywhere without me,” Mingyu said, and then his dark eyes shifted to somewhere behind Wonwoo. Mingyu’s voice went deeper, more intimidating- “Put the camera away, Kwan. Now.”

“But Jeonghan told me to take pictures,” Seungkwan’s voice whined as Wonwoo tentatively wrapped his hands around the handle of the broomstick.

“No. His nerves are vulnerable right now and he doesn’t need your camera flashes. Wait until we leave.” Mingyu’s voice was so different from the light, happy one Wonwoo had heard yesterday. It was dominating and confident and there was something very, very attractive about it. Wonwoo liked voices like that. They demanded his attention, something Kim Mingyu had never really done.

Wonwoo hesitated, about to swing a leg over the broom. He glanced Mingyu’s way, anxious.

Mingyu’s strong hand curled around the shaft of the broomstick, Wonwoo not even needing to voice his concern. “There. I promise, I’m holding onto it. It’s not going to shoot off anywhere. I swear.”

Wonwoo nodded, and closed his eyes tightly, exhaling sharply as he put a leg over the broomstick and settled onto it.

“Open your eyes!” Seokmin’s voice rang out, and Wonwoo slowly did, staring at them. He was still in the same place, he hadn’t moved. He wasn’t thousands of feet in the air with nothing but a tiny stick holding him up. His feet were still on the ground. And Mingyu was still here. Good. Very good.

“Okay,” Mingyu said, releasing the breath of concern that Wonwoo hadn’t known the younger was holding in. “You’re okay?”

Wonwoo’s heart certainly wasn’t, for a multitude of reasons that he was too flustered to address, but he nodded anyway. “Yeah. For now.”

“Cool,” Mingyu said, easily getting on behind Wonwoo and reaching his arms around Wonwoo’s slender waist, his hands on top of Wonwoo’s on the front of the broomstick. Wonwoo would’ve appreciated how patient Mingyu was with him despite the younger probably mounting his broom rapidly once a day, but he was too busy staring at Mingyu’s hands. “This is how it’ll be. Is that okay?”

Wonwoo couldn’t speak.

Because now Mingyu was pressed against him, and Wonwoo could feel every well-worked muscle of the latter’s chest and abs, and those strong arms were wrapped around Wonwoo so securely that Wonwoo realized Mingyu wasn’t going to let him fall, that he was safe, that he was going to be okay, that maybe this wasn’t that much of a penalty, because there was no way that an embrace this sweet and warm was supposed to be a punishment. Not to mention that the lavender aroma was just completely around Wonwoo now, enveloping him in a warm comfortable fragrance that he just wanted to sink into and never come out of. It was the kind of scent he’d willingly drown in. 

“You haven’t fainted on me already, right?” Mingyu chuckled, and the sound made Wonwoo’s back stiffen as a chill rushed down his spine, setting something alight inside him. “An answer would be nice. This is okay with you?”

“This is fine,” Wonwoo forced out. Hopefully they’d think his strained voice was because of his panic. 

“Bets for how long it’ll take him to start crying,” Wonwoo heard Chan snickering quietly, but he didn’t care, because Mingyu was here and Mingyu knew what he was doing and Wonwoo trusted Mingyu completely, maybe even more than himself and the heart in his chest that was doing some strange things right now. 

“Wonwoo’s only going to be crying out of happiness and wonder,” Mingyu replied, his voice once again commanding and strong. It gave Wonwoo such a sense of reassurance seconds before he was about to experience one of the scariest things he ever would. This wasn’t going to be so bad. “I’ll make sure of that. He’s not going to be scared of flying by the time we’re done.”

“Okay, cliched lines have been delivered,” Seokmin said, reading off his cue cards as if he’d actually written that on there. “Minwon couple challenge, start!”

“How slow do you want?” Mingyu asked Wonwoo.

“I don’t want slow,” Wonwoo exhaled slowly. “I want you to show me why you love flying.”

He glanced behind himself, finding Mingyu’s glowing face so close to his own. Mingyu’s eyes were crinkled into crescent moons as he grinned. “Oh, you want to  _ fly _ .”

“No falling,” Wonwoo said nervously.

“You’ll only be falling for Mingyu,” Seokmin reassured Wonwoo. “Sorry. I wrote down a bunch of ‘falling’ puns before this because I knew you’d be scared of it.”

Seungkwan winced. “Bad taste, mate.”

“No sense of tact,” Junhui agreed, leaning tiredly on Minghao. “Can you two get going? I’m sleepy. It’s half past eleven.”

“Nobody appreciates my humor.” Seokmin glanced their way. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Wonwoo glanced at Mingyu, who was pink-cheeked now. Probably the cold.

“Let’s turn this penalty into pleasure,” Mingyu murmured in Wonwoo’s ear. “You tell me when.”

Wonwoo inhaled, steeling himself- “Now.”

And Mingyu kicked off from the ground with such force that they went shooting off the end of the tower to the whooping and cheering of the others, corkscrewing up into the air like a bullet. 

Wonwoo tightly shut his eyes at first, a scream nearly unleashing itself from his throat-

But then he heard Mingyu laughing, and seconds after that, “Open your eyes, hyung!”

Wonwoo peeked with one, then the other, and gasped, nearly going dizzy at the sight beneath him.

The castle was lit beautifully, tiny pinpricks of yellow illuminating the hallways and dormitories from where Mingyu and Wonwoo glided through the air, the broom dipping into a slight descent so Wonwoo could get a better view of the flowing grounds, the archway-ornamented bridge to brightly-lit Hogsmeade village in the distance, the dark empty Quidditch pitch where they should probably be, the sparkling Forbidden Forest, the cozy warmth of Hagrid’s hut, the reflective glimmer of the greenhouses, the sprawling courtyard and expanse of the shimmery lake.

He’d never thought that everything could look so pretty from up here. Terrifying, but pretty. Wonwoo’s vision swam, and he blinked a few times to dispel the dizziness, forcing himself to keep his eyes from straying directly below them, that view betraying their actual height in the air. Wonwoo locked his gaze forward, over the breathtaking view that Mingyu was showing him. 

Wonwoo dared take one hand off the broom, teasing his fingers out from under Mingyu’s to keep a hand on his glasses as Mingyu continued to steer the broom.

“Hyung,” Mingyu said in his ear, vanilla brushing past Wonwoo’s cheek. “Hyung, if you want to close your eyes, I won’t tell them. They’ve already put you into such a spot for this penalty. It’s okay.” As he spoke, the broom slipped a little lower in the air, and Wonwoo, panicked, grabbed onto the shaft quickly, an embarrassing squeak leaving his lips. A soft laugh, and Mingyu let go of the broom with one hand, wrapping it around Wonwoo’s midriff and dragging him closer to the latter’s body. “I’ve got you. You’re not falling. A little up-and-down is normal, I promise.”

Wonwoo was once again robbed of speech, because Mingyu’s slender fingers were splayed against his skin, albeit through several layers of fabric- it wasn’t fair how even Mingyu’s fingers, his reassuring grip on Wonwoo’s body, was so comforting.

“Can you steer this thing properly with one hand?” Wonwoo shouted through the air.

“I can do it with none!” Mingyu laughed in reply. “Haven’t you ever seen me stand up on my broom in a match?”

“Yes, well- don’t do it right now, or I’ll fall straight off to my death!” Wonwoo chanced a glance directly downwards. “We’ve got to be at least half a thousand feet in the air right now!”

“I could catch you in seconds, if you fell! Stop worrying and start enjoying it, Won!”

Wonwoo nearly melted right off the broom at that.

“Right, well, I’m sure Seungkwan’s started taking pictures now. Let’s make sure he gets no good ones,” Mingyu snickered. “I’m accelerating.”

“Yeah,” Wonwoo breathed. “Go ahead.”

And he nestled into Mingyu’s arms as the broom shot higher and faster into the sky, spiraling beautifully as they flew over the snowy grounds, the stars glittering above them.

❆

“Can’t see for shit,” Jihoon grumbled, repositioning the telescope. “Why’s Mingyu so damn fast? The kid’s going at a thousand kilometers per hour.”

“Let me try,” Junhui suggested, taking the telescope from Jihoon and squinting into the lens. “I’m kinda good at this sort of thing…” 

“He’s messing up all my pictures!” Seungkwan pouted, leaning into Hansol’s body. 

The younger, slightly surprised, wrapped an arm around Seungkwan comfortingly, taking the polaroid camera from him and having a few attempts at capturing the looping and swirling broomstick and its riders. “You cold, Boo?”

“A bit,” Seungkwan mumbled, smiling as Hansol stripped off his coat. “You’re so sweet, Sol.”

“You’re the sweet one,” Hansol said as if it was obvious, completely missing his own flirting and the fact that Seungkwan’s blush could be seen even in the dark night. 

Chan yawned, drooping to the ground. “This is so boring. Wonwoo’s not screaming. I told you guys Mingyu’s way too comforting.”

Seokmin shared a smile with Minghao. “It’s all worth it.”

“Indeed it is,” Minghao chuckled. “Indeed it is.”

“Aren’t seven minutes up by now?” Jihoon asked, checking the time.

“We’re at six minutes,” Seungkwan chuckled. “I guess they’re just having fun now. Doesn’t look like they’re landing soon.”

❆

“You wanna try steering?” Mingyu’s body was warm against his. They’d been flying around the grounds for a while now, Mingyu teasingly taking him close to the castle’s walls and pulling away at the last minute, slowly showing Wonwoo more aerial flips and spins and tricks as Wonwoo grew a little more comfortable with the broom and the height and the fact that Mingyu wasn’t going to let him fall no matter what.

“You think I could do it?” Wonwoo asked doubtfully.

“Sure. My broom’s really gentle, you know. It’ll listen well.”

“We might have to go back soon. Seven minutes, remember?”

“That’s already passed. I can take you back if you want.”

“No…” Wonwoo swallowed. “No. I want to stay here longer. And try steering it. I guess I can try.”

“I’ll be ready to help you if you need it. Don’t worry,” Mingyu said, slowly letting his left hand leave the shaft and joining it with his right, crossed over Wonwoo’s stomach as they crossed over the lake, the galaxies shining in its depths. “I’m holding onto you. You go where you want to.”

“Wherever I want?”

“Wherever you want. No limits.”

Wonwoo took a deep breath, and glanced up at the glistening stars. “I want to go up.”

Something reckless had taken over him now, whether it was Mingyu’s windswept appearance behind him or the warmth of the latter’s arms or the magical cool crispness of this icy night. Wonwoo was flying and free and he wasn’t going to let anything stop him now that he’d come this far. Fears be damned.    
“Go,” Mingyu said simply. 

So Wonwoo- with a a few seconds of figuring out how this thing worked- angled the end of the broom up and they went sailing into the clouds, smooth as a trailing arrow piercing the midnight sky.

It was dark and beautiful but the spattering of stars across the universe’s canvas tempted Wonwoo to go further, to go closer, until Hogwarts was distant on the ground, covered by the slightest wisps of clouds and he could feel a slight pressure on his ears. 

They soared through the air, Mingyu’s laughter ringing in Wonwoo’s ears as he coaxed the broom up and up and up, aiming for the stars. 

“You know the school boundary line won’t let you go up past a certain height, right?” Mingyu said into Wonwoo’s ear. “At some point, we’re going to turn into the most majestic dive of your life.” Mingyu’s arms tightened around Wonwoo as it got a little colder. “If you’re ready, flip the broom around. I don’t think the boundary is going to boomerang us gently.”

“You can control the dive, right?”

“Won, I can do anything on this broom. You trust me, right?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Flip the broom. Let me guide you.” And Mingyu’s hand was firm on top of his as he maneuvered the broom in the air, and for a second the world tilted as Wonwoo felt his glasses slip down the bridge of his nose slightly, and then they were arcing down as clouds rushed past them, plummeting back to the earth. 

Wonwoo let a yell loose, but it wasn’t one of fear. It was one of freedom.

Mingyu laughed harder, the joy in his voice making Wonwoo smile too as Mingyu sent them free-falling down and down, the broom’s end sharply pointed towards the snow-covered ground.

“We’re not going to crash, right?” Wonwoo shouted gleefully over the wind. Even if they did, it’d still be fun. The ground was coming rather fast, though. 

“We are, but it’s not going to hurt! Snow is a soft landing and there’s a good two feet of it covering the grass,” Mingyu yelled back. “Might want to hold onto the broom a little tighter though-”

Wonwoo complied as Mingyu did another spin in the air, most likely to slow the speed of the dive, before sending them pluming a canal into the tender snow, which exploded around them, showering them in the icy flakes as Mingyu braked the broom, sharply twisting the firm shaft so that the broom braked abruptly at an angle, sending Mingyu and Wonwoo toppling sideways and sinking immediately into the pillow-soft snow. 

Mingyu was grinning as he sat up. “Was that fun or what?”

Wonwoo merely raised a hand in a thumbs up, the vertigo having overtaken him now that they were back on the ground and the realization of how high up in the air he’d just been finally hit him. 

“Are you hurt?” Wonwoo stared up at the distant sky as he shook his head, hearing the sound of snow crunching together as Mingyu crawled towards him. 

“Just… wow...” Wonwoo couldn’t find anything else to say. “Wow. I did that. I was up there.”

Mingyu laughed as he gathered Wonwoo in his arms. “Are you gonna faint now that it’s all over?”

“Lightheaded,” Wonwoo murmured, feeling dizzy in Mingyu’s embrace, resting his head against the latter’s shoulder. “But… I’m okay… just… spinny…”

Mingyu laughed. “You’ll be fine. First time’s always like that.” Wonwoo’s eyes fluttered closed, Mingyu fretting as he brushed snow-flecked hair off of Wonwoo’s forehead. “You were so brave, Won. I don’t think I would’ve done all that the first time I got on a broomstick. You did so well. Should we get inside and get you a steadying tonic from Madam Pomfrey? We don’t have to give her any details, she usually doesn’t ask. How does that sound?”

“Good,” Wonwoo mumbled, feeling like falling asleep right here. “You can carry me? I don’t think I can walk…”

“Of course I can,” Mingyu began. 

And then golden light spilled out of the castle’s doors, and Professor McGonagall’s voice sounded sharply across the silent grounds as she hurtled from the castle. “KIM! JEON! WHAT IN GOD’S INSANITY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!”

“Shit,” Mingyu breathed. “How on earth did she know it’s us?”

“Nobody else would be this stupid,” Wonwoo slurred, and then, as Professor McGonagall arrived at approximately halfway to their location, “Sorry. You’ll have to deal with that on your own.”

“What?” 

And then Wonwoo fainted.

❆

“OH!” Junhui started bouncing up and down, clutching the telescope’s optical tube. “OH, WOAH! THAT’S TOO FAST! THEY’RE GONNA CRASH!”

“What?” Minghao rushed over, grabbing the telescope from Junhui as everyone crowded around. “Oh my god!”

They didn’t quite need a telescope to see the spray of snow that was sent up by the Firebolt as Mingyu and Wonwoo plowed halfway across the grounds. 

“Are they dead?” Seungkwan screeched when the snow plume settled, leaving the riderless Firebolt laying feet away from the two figures in the snow. “Are they moving?”

“Shut up, wait!” Minghao squinted hard through the telescope, swinging the instrument around until he found the two figures. “Nah, they’re both moving and Mingyu’s grinning like an idiot. That was planned. Planned dive-”

“KIM! JEON! WHAT IN GOD’S INSANITY-”

“ _ That’s _ not planned,” Minghao muttered feverishly, abandoning the telescope and joining the others at the railing to stare over the edge as Professor McGonagall hurried through the snow, her wand melting a path through it to where Mingyu and Wonwoo still were.

“So… now…?” Seokmin mumbled, flipping through his cue cards unsurely. “This wasn’t part of the script. Actually, it went off script when Mingyu decided to crash-land in the grounds and not here. I assumed he’d come back here instead of doing a flashy ending that probably woke up every teacher in this castle…”

“Well…” Minghao hummed. “Okay. Teachers alerted, big trouble for anyone found to be involved in that mess. New script.” The Slytherin prefect turned to his friends.

“Yeah?” Junhui asked.

“Run,” Minghao said seriously, grabbing Junhui by the wrist and sprinting from the tower platform, dragging the older boy after him.

“Nice to know he cares about us too,” Chan said sarcastically, Jihoon hurrying to put his coat on and Seokmin following suit. “You two are leaving as well?”

“Going to go to the secret passageway that leads to the wall of the hospital wing so I can eavesdrop and make sure Won’s okay, because that’s probably where McGonagall is asking Mingyu to take him,” Jihoon said in a singular breath, vanishing shortly afterwards after Junhui and Minghao.

“And I’m headed to the Gryffindor tower to wake up Soonyoung because he’d kill me tomorrow if I don’t,” Seokmin added, rushing after Jihoon.

“Leaves us,” Chan snorted, turning his attention to the other two.

“We should, like, jump down and save them,” Hansol said mindlessly, staring down at Mingyu and Wonwoo.

“You’d do that for somebody? Jump from here?” Seungkwan asked Hansol, eyes shining as he gazed at him like a fairytale character.

“Of course, they’re our hyungs,” Hansol replied casually, once again completely oblivious.

“Wow,” Seungkwan breathed. “That’s so chivalrous of you.”

“Really?” Hansol seemed to have clued in slightly. “You think so?”

Seungkwan nodded. “Yeah.”

Chan stared between the two of them, exasperated, then squeezed his way into the middle, grabbing Hansol by the back of the neck and maneuvering him to the railing. “Okay, mister chivalry, go ahead and jump for us. Maybe it’ll put me out of my misery from being forced to watch this.”

The three of them subsided into laughter as they slowly descended the tower stairs, ready to sneak the long distances back to their dormitories and crawl straight into their beds after such an exciting night out. 

❆

“...absolutely unacceptable behavior, Kim. Look at the state of the poor boy, he’s fainted from shock.”

“Yes, Professor.” 

“How dare you abuse your broomstick and your Quidditch privileges. This is a disgrace not only for you as a teammate responsible for upholding rules but for Gryffindor house. A complete shame.”

“Yes, Professor. I understand, Professor.”

“Fifty points from Gryffindor. And I’ll speak with your Head Boy or Quidditch captain, whichever one I encounter first tomorrow.”

“Professor-”

“Not a single argument, Mr. Kim. I have no forgiveness to offer. Out of bed at this hour, flying around at night, mauling the grounds- I expect you to return straight to your dormitory right after Mr. Jeon awakes.”

Wonwoo suppressed a smile, glad he’d just returned to conscious and hadn’t listened to Professor McGonagall’s lecturing for what he’d been sure was quite some time. Maybe he should pretend to be unconscious for a while longer. 

Hurried footsteps, and then- “Is Wonwoo okay?”

“Mr. Kwon! What do you think you’re doing out of bed?”

“Uh…” Soonyoung was stalling, meaning that Professor McGonagall had turned those all-knowing catlike eyes upon him. 

Wonwoo sneaked a peek, finding his vision blurrier than blurry. Dammit. They’d taken his glasses off.

He heard a soft gasp from next to his bed and squinted, making out the blur that was actually Mingyu, who was now looking at him with that look of exasperation you give your friend when they fake unconsciousness while you get grilled by the strictest professor in the whole school.

Wonwoo closed his eyes again

“Hey! I know you’re awake,” Mingyu hissed at him.

Wonwoo chose to smile slightly.

“Won, it’s not funny! Stop pretending and take some blame too!” Mingyu whispered, nudging him with his hand.

Wonwoo risked his instinct that McGonagall hadn’t stopped glaring at the entrance where Soonyoung was still fumbling for an answer and shook his head slightly in response to Mingyu.

“Word travels fast around here,” Soonyoung said, evidently flustered.

Wonwoo heard the professor’s footsteps moving away from the bed, and cracked his eyes open again, grabbing his glasses off the bedside table as he sat up. Luckily, Professor McGonagall didn’t notice, her back still turned to him and Wonwoo as she advanced on the nervous Soonyoung dithering by the entrance.

“Well, Mr. Jeon is recovering from the extremely foolish stunt he’s just performed with Mr. Kim on that Firebolt.”   
“Oh,” Soonyoung said, gaze darting to where Wonwoo was sitting up in bed, Mingyu next to him. “That’s… uh… news to me. The Firebolt part. And the Astronomy Tower bit.”

“What do you mean, Astronomy Tower?” Professor McGonagall asked testily. “I didn’t say anything about that.”

Soonyoung blanched. “Uh… I don’t know. Hazarded a guess.”

“Professor, we weren’t trying to do any stunts, honest,” Mingyu said urgently, slipping off his chair as Professor McGonagall turned back to them. “I was trying to show Wonwoo that flying isn’t anything to be scared of.”

“At night. Off the pitch. And completely unsupervised.”

“It  _ was _ stupid, but I wasn’t trying to draw attention to us,” Mingyu protested. “Please, professor, don’t be too harsh on us. I was being valorous and chivalrous and all the other things our House considers important, wasn’t I? You can ask Wonwoo. I was so careful.”

Professor McGonagall sighed, closing her eyes momentarily. Wonwoo felt sorry for the woman. He couldn’t believe she had to deal with stupidity like this on the daily. 

Madam Pomfrey bustled from her office, a veritable boulder of chocolate and a hammer in her hands.

“What’s that?” Wonwoo asked tentatively.

“It’ll make you feel better,” Madam Pomfrey said simply, setting it down on the bedside table and beginning to crack away at the block of chocolate.

“I don’t feel too good, either,” Mingyu said hopefully, earning a sizeable chunk for his troubles. “Ooh. Thanks.”

Professor McGonagall opened her eyes again, watching Mingyu nom on the chocolate before turning to Soonyoung. “Kwon, as Mr. Kim’s Quidditch Captain I leave it up to you whatever ban you wish to impose on him.”   
“Ban?” Mingyu choked, Soonyoung looking pale as well. 

“Wait,” Wonwoo said suddenly, politely rejecting the brick of chocolate that Madam Pomfrey was offering him as he swung his legs out of bed, losing his balance for a second from standing up so fast after fainting. Mingyu grabbed his arm to steady him. “No. It’s my fault, professor.”

Professor McGonagall’s eyebrows were about to disappear into her hat. “Your fault, Mr. Jeon?”

“What are you doing, Won?” Mingyu whispered. Wonwoo ignored him. 

“I’m a prefect. I’m supposed to take responsibility for actions like these, and to be honest I knew this was against the rules and still let Mingyu do what he did. If there’s anyone to blame, let it be me. He’s an exceptional player and just because he made this one choice with bad judgement tonight you shouldn’t punish him by revoking him from playing for his team. Neither Mingyu nor I got hurt from this and I’m sure we’ve learned our lesson and would never do something like this again.”

Professor McGonagall considered Wonwoo, and turned back to Soonyoung. “What do you think, Mr. Kwon?”

“I won’t ban Mingyu, but I think they should serve detention together,” Soonyoung said. “I know I’m not prefect so I can’t make those kinds of decisions, but it’s my suggestion.” Soonyoung’s eyes twinkled as he looked at Mingyu still holding onto Wonwoo’s arm. “They need some time together to reflect on tonight.”

“I think a paired detention would be good too,” Mingyu said enthusiastically, going quiet when Professor McGonagall glared at him. Mingyu dipped his head and took another bite of chocolate.

“Well, if that’s what your captain thinks is best,” Professor McGonagall agreed slowly. “I will provide lenience on this issue once, taking into consideration the fact that Mr. Kim hasn’t had many other instances with stepping out of line, and Mr. Jeon has a perfect school record. You two will serve detention tomorrow for Professor Snape. He’s been looking for someone to clean out and reorganize his Potions specimens-”

“Professor,” Mingyu whined. “Can’t we serve any other detention than for-”

Wonwoo stepped on Mingyu’s foot sharply. “Thank you, professor. We won’t repeat our actions from tonight. As a prefect I’ll make sure to set a proper example from here on out. And I’m sure that Mingyu will do the same for the sake of his team.”

“Alright,” Professor McGonagall sighed. “Mr. Jeon, stay in the hospital wing tonight. Mr. Kwon, Mr. Kim, to your dormitory please.”

“Bye,” Mingyu said to Wonwoo as Madam Pomfrey finally succeeded in stuffing a fist-sized block of chocolate in Wonwoo’s mouth. “Hope you feel better.”

Wonwoo managed a muffled, “see you tomorrow” through the chocolate, waving as Professor McGonagall swept Mingyu and Soonyoung out.

❆

“Where exactly are we going?” Junhui puffed, rushing along behind Minghao.

“Quickly, discreetly,” Minghao chanted feverishly under his breath, dragging Junhui along. “We’re going to my dormitory. We’ll be in such deep trouble if we’re caught out of bed at this hour, and now teachers know some students are out of bed. I’m Mingyu’s best friend, and you’re Wonwoo’s.”

“Wait,” Junhui panted. “I thought you said you weren’t ever gonna let me spend the night in your room.” 

“Well, circumstances change,” Minghao replied, glancing behind them as they continued. “Knowing you, you’d trip and fall or something else stupid on your way to the Hufflepuff dormitory and you’ll end up in trouble. Consider this a charity service.” 

“Well, we could cause our own commotion in your room, then,” Junhui smirked. 

“Keep talking like that and I’ll leave you outside my room. It’s cold down there, you know, our place is under the lake.” 

“You’re smiling, I can hear it in your voice. Is Hao shy at the idea of Junnie staying over?” Junhui teased.

“Shut up.” But Minghao giggled right afterwards, and Junhui’s grin grew wider as the younger boy kept pulling him along. 

❆

Seokmin was waiting for Soonyoung and Mingyu at the Gryffindor Tower portrait hole, Seungcheol now having joined the Hufflepuff.

“When did Cheol get here?” Soonyoung asked Seokmin. 

Seokmin chuckled. “I went and got him after waking you up, we came back outside to wait for you two. How’s Wonwoo?”

“He’s fine,” Mingyu said, licking at the chocolate now to preserve it for a little longer. This ended up not as satisfying as actually biting it, so he sank his pointy canines into it again happily. “We’re doing a detention tomorrow for Snape. But other than that everything’s okay!”

“Good,” Seungcheol said, amused as he stroked through Mingyu’s hair (although he had to stand on his toes slightly to do so). “How’d Won like flying?”

“Oh, he loved it,” Mingyu exclaimed, eyes lighting up. “I think he really did! He was smiling. Even though he fainted after, it wasn’t because he was scared. I think he had so much fun that his body couldn’t even take it anymore and he-” Mingyu snapped his fingers. “Just went poof.”

“If Wonwoo could see you now,” Seokmin laughed. “Mingyu was trying to be all hot guy up on the Astronomy Tower.”

“You and Minghao told me to do that,” Mingyu sulked, taking another bite of chocolate.

“Yeah, well, it didn’t last long. Now look at you, eating your chocolate and surrounded by your hyungs like a little baby.”

Mingyu pouted at them, which didn’t quite help in swaying Seokmin’s point. 

“Alright, you get to bed, you’ve had quite a night,” Seungcheol said, ruffling Mingyu’s hair. “Let me talk to these two.”

“You can’t tell me to go to bed. I’m only two years younger than you.”   
Seungcheol rolled his eyes. “On behalf of Minghao, who has no patience for your crankiness in the morning, please go to bed, Mingyu. Of course you don’t have to, because you’re a big boy fifth year who can manage his own schedule and choose however long he wishes to stay up because you’re so mature and responsible and-”

“Okay, fine, I’m going.  _ Eggnog _ .”

The portrait hole swung open upon recognition of the password, and Mingyu bade the others goodnight before climbing through and shutting it behind himself.

A few seconds of silence, and then-

“Say thank you,” Soonyoung prompted.

“What?” Seokmin asked.

“Say thank you. It’s because of yours truly that those two are serving detention together.” Soonyoung’s voice dropped lower. “Seokmin, when you told me yesterday to watch Mingyu and Wonwoo closely because I could notice something, I didn’t actually realize how obvious it all was before I really looked. Mingyu’s totally whipped!”

“I know, right!” Seungcheol gushed. “You’re a genius for getting them detention together, Soonyoung. Maybe I don’t give you enough credit.”

“You certainly don’t,” Soonyoung harrumphed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“This is great news for the Minwon-Get-Together-This-Christmas agenda,” Seokmin said proudly.

“I know,” Seungcheol agreed. “They’ll definitely realize their feelings for each other tomorrow. They have to, right?”

☽

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaa. a a a a a a a 
> 
> so much detail in this chapter but i gotta say my favorite is seokmins sparkly mc cards bc that’s as extra as i am 
> 
> your comments make me so happy 🥺 i’m literally writing each stave as i go and it’s been really hard for me. 
> 
> i spent five or six hours on this stave alone and i’m so drained but no time to rest because i need to start working on stave iv. 
> 
> anyway that being said your comments are so so so much more helpful than you know, even just clicking in and seeing one more comment on this work makes me feel so grateful. 
> 
> thank you all so much for reading, stave iv is coming super soon!!


	4. STAVE IV. The Third Of The Four Nights.

“Eurgh,” Wonwoo said as he squeamishly picked an eel out of the jar of brine it’d been residing in for god knows how many years. “How on earth are we supposed to know if it’s okay to use?”

“Smell it, maybe,” Mingyu suggested. “Aren’t you supposed to know?”

“Just because I’m a Ravenclaw doesn’t mean I know everything.” Wonwoo brought the eel as close to his face as he could bear, giving it a little sniff. “Um… does stinky rotted dead rat scent qualify as good for potionmaking?”

“Toss it back in, the most damage it’ll do if it’s gone bad is fuck over a fourth year’s Draught of Living Death or something,” Mingyu said dubiously, shuffling through files and extracting the correct one. “Okay. Specimen 34, Eel in Preservatives, checked December 22, safe for use.” Mingyu scrawled these details onto the paper, stuffing the card back into the stack. 

“Maybe we should switch,” Wonwoo said, eyeing the next potent jar. “I don’t have the emotional or mental capacity to touch any more of these and your handwriting isn’t that legible.”

“Okay,” Mingyu shrugged, squeezing past Wonwoo to the other side of the desk, unscrewing the lid. “Augh!”

Mingyu ducked below the desk just in time as a shiny, slimy pod shot out of the jar and ricocheted off the walls, spraying the Potions dungeon in its goopy substance. Wonwoo dove as well, wincing as a splatter of the aforementioned nastiness hit his cheek.

“ _Immobulus_!” Wonwoo shouted, and the pod dropped to the floor.

Mingyu and Wonwoo slowly rose onto their knees, peeking at each other from across the table between the jars of specimens they still had left to categorize.

“Note to self,” Wonwoo said, wiping his cheek as they stood. “Some specimens are still _alive_.”

Mingyu walked over to the pod, prodding it tentatively with his foot before stepping on it. The pod squelched under his foot, temporarily weakened, and he bent down to pick it up. “What exactly is this thing?”  
“Bring it back over here, let’s see,” Wonwoo said, ripping some parchment off a roll and spreading it over the table for Mingyu to place the specimen. “Curse Snape for giving us a detention like this…” Wonwoo poked at the pod with his wand. “It’s a preserved Snargaluff pod. They change their color when they’re submerged in their brine, that’s why you can’t recognize it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think they like being in their brine much either,” Mingyu remarked, glancing around the slimy dungeon. “ _Evanesco_. How many of these do we have left?”

“He didn’t give us an amount of jars to organize, remember?” Wonwoo said darkly. “He just said to keep working until 4.”

Mingyu glanced at the clock. There was a whole hour left. “Great. And I’ve got work later.”

“I hope he still judges my potion despite me getting detention,” Wonwoo added worriedly. “My extra credit potion.”

“Oh?” Mingyu opened another jar, making a face at the smell as he swirled it around, peering into it. “This one’s mandrake roots. You’re making Amortentia, right?”

“Yeah. It’s going okay, I think. I’m brewing it in my dormitory because if I kept it in the Potions resource dungeon someone might steal my work.” Wonwoo neatly printed on the card he was holding, placing it carefully into the stacks and picking up a fresh one.  
“You sound like Minghao,” Mingyu chuckled. “You guys are super paranoid.”

“Oh, Minghao’s doing the fifth year extra credit? I heard it’s Felix Felicis.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty obvious he’ll get the points even if he fucks it up, he’s Snape’s absolute favorite. The potion was super hard, though, Seokmin and I helped him with it and we had to restart about five times. It’s setting in the resource dungeon right now.”

“Will it be ready by the due date? Felix Felicis is so precise with timing.”

“Yeah, Minghao nearly went feral about calculating it all perfectly. 132 hours, which means it’ll be ready at exactly 6:45 PM on Friday, fifteen minutes from Snape’s 7 PM deadline.” Mingyu shook the next jar, holding it up to the light, not even bothering to open it. “This one’s mandrake root too.”

“Oh, 7 PM. That reminded me,” Wonwoo said, writing hastily. “I’m taking Junhui and Jihoon ice skating on the lake tonight. You wanna join?”

Mingyu blanched, or perhaps it was because he’d just opened a particularly pungent jar. “I’m barely good on my own feet, let alone on inline skates, thanks.”

“It could still be fun. I went flying yesterday, remember? Even though I was shit scared.”

“Yeah,” Mingyu laughed. “Are you okay? From fainting. I really didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”  
“I think I was just dizzy from coming down so fast. But I actually had a good time,” Wonwoo said genuinely. “Like, really. Thanks for taking me. I think that how you do something for the first time determines your attitude for it for a long time, and I’m really grateful that the first time I flew was with you.”  
Mingyu blushed. “Thanks. I’m not that good, though.”  
“Stop trying to be modest about it. You’re immensely talented. You could play for Britain, if you wanted to. I don’t even watch Quidditch but I can recognize skilled players when I see them. You made me feel really safe.”

“Oh,” Mingyu flushed darker. “I’m glad you had fun. I really did.”

“I know. I like that side of you.”  
In the sudden silence, Wonwoo remembered Minghao’s comment yesterday- the one about Mingyu being pansexual. Open to everything, not just girls.

What kind of strange timing was that, Wonwoo demanded his mind. He’d just made things weird inside his head.

“I try not to be childish around you,” Mingyu admitted, stumbling over his words slightly as he put down the jar he was holding. “You know… because, well… you’re just really smart and intelligent and- oh my god, those two words mean the exact same thing, don’t they- and mature and grown up, and I’m kind of really stupid compared to you-”

“Mingyu, stop,” Wonwoo said, but he felt rather relieved that Mingyu had jumped into this topic that Wonwoo had always wanted to talk to him about. “Just because I’m well-read and smart doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate and love people who act bubbly and happy all the time. And that doesn’t make you stupid either. You’re really quick when it comes to emotions and intangibles. You know that, right?”

Pink bloomed on Mingyu’s cheeks again. “I didn’t… I mean, I think I’m just an emotional person… everyone calls me a baby for a reason, you know…” 

“Well, don’t categorize me as ‘everyone’ then, because I don’t,” Wonwoo said gently. “I don’t think that being childish is a bad thing. I think you’re really sensible and smart but a little adventurous and fun-loving. And none of that makes you someone that I wouldn’t like.”

Wonwoo realized how that sounded after he’d said it. 

It gave off the feel that Mingyu was someone he liked.

And clearly Mingyu was thinking that too, because he was staring at Wonwoo.

Of course he’d stare. That was a really out-of-the-blue thing to say. It didn’t make any sense. 

“I mean,” Wonwoo said hastily, now feeling like the one on the spot. “I don’t mean it like that, obviously. I meant, like… a friend. A person I’d find likeable. Not like, dating or someone I’d kiss or- yeah.”

“Yeah, obviously.” Mingyu nodded quickly. 

Wonwoo felt his face burning. “Can you tell me what’s in the next jar? We should get back to work.”

“Right,” Mingyu said, red-cheeked as he checked as Wonwoo had asked.

It was quiet for ten more minutes, before Mingyu asked, “Have you gone ice skating before?”  
“What?” Wonwoo said. He’d been way too deep in his thoughts.

Mingyu repeated his question. “You said you were taking Junhui and Jihoon.”  
“Oh,” Wonwoo huffed a laugh. “That. Yeah, I’ve skated a bit before.”

“Cool,” Mingyu replied, and then it was silent again.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Wonwoo felt that maybe if he asked again, Mingyu would be more inclined to come. 

“I don’t have any skates,” Mingyu said, as if admitting that otherwise, he’d consider joining.

“That’s okay. I’ve got a pair and we can just duplicate.”

“I really, really don’t know how to skate, Won. I went once with Hao and Seok in second year and spent more time on my ass than actually skating.”

“I promise I’ll help you. Although unfortunately, skating isn’t like flying so I can’t swear I won’t let you fall, because you’ll probably drag me down with you. But on the plus side, I can make my own cliche by saying that I’ll always fall with you.”

Mingyu laughed, the sound light and high-pitched. “Stop it. Those lines sound so weird.”

Wonwoo grinned at the younger boy across the table, glad he’d restored the mood. “You’re the one who started it yesterday.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, fine, I’ll join. I get off work at 6:30, so I can make it by 7.”

“Cool. Ew, what is that?”  
Mingyu quickly screwed the lid of the jar back on. “Let’s say this one isn’t safe, because that smell certainly isn’t.”

Wonwoo chuckled, marking it down as Mingyu tapped the jar with his wand, clearing it. “You look like you’re about to cry. I’m so glad I switched with you.”

“Maybe I’m about to cry because I’m thinking of how badly I’m going to humiliate myself in front of you later tonight,” Mingyu said seriously, opening the next jar.

“Mhm. I’m looking forward to it too. Maybe I can ask Jeonghan to borrow his polaroid? I’ll want to capture that moment.”

“Shut up, hyung.”

❆

“Let me get this straight,” Seokmin said, incredulous. “You and Wonwoo are-”

“You can’t get it straight because he’s pan,” Minghao sniped, stretching out on his beanbag to idly toast a marshmallow in the Hufflepuff common room’s fireplace. Mingyu had rushed here directly after detention to deliver the news of his ‘skating date’ with Wonwoo tonight, to find Minghao already keeping Seokmin company. 

“Ignore him and proceed,” Mingyu said, snatching the marshmallow off Minghao’s stick.

“You and Wonwoo are going skating together at night, and he’s taking you out to dinner afterwards?” Seokmin clapped his hands excitedly. “It’s really, really a date!”

“It’s not a _date_ date!” Mingyu glanced around to make sure no other Hufflepuffs were listening in. “Junhui knows this great shabu shabu place in Hogsmeade and Wonwoo said that Junhui wanted to show them the place after skating. Since I’m coming along to skate, Wonwoo invited me along for dinner as well. And Soonyoung’s able to join us then, because he’s busy before. So five of us are going, and that’s not a date.”

“Soonyoung probably just invented some reason to not come skating, and got conveniently freed up for food. Absolute dumbass,” Minghao snickered affectionately.

“Hao always pulls the ‘we don’t use honorifics in Chinese’ card so he can be disrespectful to all of us,” Seokmin yawned, toasting another marshmallow.

“Why don’t you look surprised about any of this?” Mingyu asked the lean boy.

Minghao snorted. “Who do you think told Junhui about the shabu shabu place? I’m coming too.”

“Great,” Mingyu said, relieved. “I won’t be alone with Wonwoo.”

“Uh, no,” Minghao rolled his eyes. “I’m not coming skating.”

“Well, then, you’re not gonna desert me during dinner, right?”

Seokmin laughed. “You do realize Soonyoung’s gonna stick to Jihoon all dinner long- kinda weird how he does that whenever they’re around each other, actually, you’d expect Jihoon to be annoyed by it- and Minghao and Junhui will be eating each other’s faces out-”

“-we don’t do that shit in public!” Minghao snapped.

“Yeah, mhm, okay. So that leaves you and Wonwoo alone in the corner,” Seokmin crooned. “Make sure to squeeze them into the corner, Hao.”

“Absolutely,” Minghao answered solemnly. “They won’t have an inch of space between them-”

Mingyu rolled onto his stomach, staring down at the carpet. “Maybe I shouldn’t go.”

Minghao lightly kicked Mingyu’s arm. “No. You’re going. If you don’t go I’m telling Wonwoo you like him. This is a perfect opportunity for you to show him your cooking skills.”

“Shabu shabu isn’t exactly a prime cooking opportunity. They give you all the materials and the pot and broth.”  
“Yeah, well, since I can’t get you a stove and all your preferred ingredients you’ll have to settle with this,” Minghao replied acridly. “Soonyoung told me that Wonwoo can’t cook for shit, so you’ll impress him either way.” Minghao checked the time. “Let’s go check on little Felix.”

“The third year? Felix Lee?” Seokmin cast his eyes around the common room. “I don’t think he’s here right now.”

Minghao smacked Seokmin’s head as they stood. “Not the Hufflepuff. Our potion.”

“Ah, right.”

“Seokmin and I should get to work, though, it’s nearly 4:30,” Mingyu said. 

“Leave me to do all the work,” Minghao sighed dramatically as the other two stood, joining them a few seconds later.

“Hey, it’s your potion. Technically, it’s supposed to be all your work.”

“Shut up. Get to work safely, dipshits. The roads are icy and I’m not coming up to pick up your crying asses when you fall down and break your dicks on the pavement.”

“Why does he get so yandere sometimes?” Mingyu mumbled to Seokmin as they headed from the common room, intending Minghao to hear.

“Yandere?” Seokmin cackled. “I think you mean deredere.”

Mingyu’s laughter stirred a small smile on Minghao’s face, but the younger boy pressed his lips back into a firm line, continuing his stoic act. 

“He’s such a faker,” Seokmin answered Mingyu, both pretending that they couldn’t see Minghao glaring at them from behind. “Always pretending like he’s not the first person to get a little teary-eyed when we start crying.”

“Remember that time I crashed my broom into the stands second year?” Mingyu continued, grinning as Minghao punched him in the side. “He was crying by my hospital bed for, what, two hours?”

“I do not cry for you and your clumsy ass,” Minghao grumbled as they made their way into the labyrinth of the moving staircases.

“Yeah, sure. We’ll see about that tonight when you hear about me getting knocked out by smashing my head on the ice on the lake.”

“I’ll just enjoy the extra space at the restaurant table to enjoy shabu shabu with Jun,” Minghao snarked, heading off to his dormitory.

Mingyu and Seokmin grinned after Minghao.

“We’re _so_ loading him up on Butterbeer this Friday,” Mingyu chuckled. “I’m getting that ‘I love you guys’ confession from him no matter what.”

“Definitely,” Seokmin agreed, beaming as they headed out the school’s front doors. 

❆

_6:00._

_6:15._

_6.30._

_6:35._

_6:40-_

“Dude, stop,” Seokmin said, shoving Mingyu’s hands away from his collar. “You have the whole walk back to the school to fix up your outfit.”

“Seriously, do I look okay? I won’t have a mirror or anything on the way back,” Mingyu said worriedly, Seokmin pausing from wiping down the counter to surmise him.

“Yeah, you look great. Don’t worry about it.”

Mingyu exhaled nervously, opening a cabinet to stare at his reflection in the glass. He’d worn a deep brown coat tonight, paired with dark jeans and a beige shirt underneath. It was stylish, but was it something Wonwoo would like? Mingyu knew that Wonwoo liked dressing sharp, so he’d worn something a little more fancy today. Of course, it’d made work a little harder, but Mingyu was okay with that. He felt like he’d was floating on clouds all evening. 

“Bro,” Seokmin hissed, grabbing him by the wrist as the bells over the Three Broomsticks’ door jangled. “Gyu! Gyu, you didn’t tell me he was coming!”

“What?” Mingyu whispered panickedly, turning back around to find Wonwoo in the doorway, rubbing his hands together from the cold as he smiled over. 

“Hey, Gyu.”

“Hi,” Mingyu managed. Wonwoo looked so handsome tonight, in a puffy white jacket and skinny navy leggings, his glasses fogged up slightly from leaving the cold weather. “Um… I didn’t know you’d be coming to pick me up.”

Damn. Those leggings.

Mingyu firmly told himself to stop thinking about the sculpted shape of Wonwoo’s slender legs-

Wonwoo shrugged. “Had a bit of free time before, figured you wouldn’t mind someone to walk with.”

“Oh,” Mingyu blushed, and dropped a glass in his haste. 

Great. Wonwoo had seen that side of him now. But Wonwoo didn’t seem surprised at the sight of a sixteen year old dropping a glass like a child, he merely laughed softly, eyes crinkling.

“We aren’t quite done cleaning up. I would’ve gotten all this done sooner, I didn’t know you’d drop by,” Mingyu explained. 

“It’s fine! I can wait,” Wonwoo said easily.

Seokmin bent beneath the counter to fix the glass, staring up at Mingyu when he was blocked from Wonwoo’s view.

“Go! Go with him, I’ll close tonight!” Seokmin breathed.

“You’ll close? On your own?” Mingyu whispered back, glancing over at Wonwoo, who was calmly adjusting his coat sleeves.

Seokmin chuckled. “You end up doing the bulk of the work on your own most nights while I talk. Consider this as a debt repaid.” Seokmin winked. “Get going.”

“Thanks, Seok,” Mingyu whispered back gratefully, bending down and crushing his friend in a hug before rushing around the counter. “Okay, Seokmin’s going to take care of closing tonight. We can get going.”

Wonwoo nodded, picking up the small bag he’d brought with him. “I’ve brought skates, and I already took the trouble of duplicating a pair for you. We’re all set.”

Mingyu flashed a smile at Seokmin as he stepped outside with Wonwoo, earning a thumbs up in reply and a mouthed “ _you’ll do great!”_

They set off down the street, and Mingyu was once again painfully reminded of how adorable their tiny height difference was. From here, he could see the floofy top of Wonwoo’s dark hair, frame of the older’s glasses and his flushed cheeks and ears. 

The air was quiet and peaceful, Hogsmeade’s many glittering shop fronts dressed up in festive, shiny colors, holiday lights twinkling softly to accompany their walk back to the school. 

“I like your leggings,” Mingyu said stupidly.

“What, these?” Wonwoo laughed, glancing down at them. “Thanks.”

“Never seen you wearing something like that, so they grabbed my attention.”

“Yeah, I wear them when I skate.”

“You skate enough to buy special leggings for it?”

Wonwoo stifled a laugh. “Maybe. I’m not anything special on the ice, though. Just a hobby from my childhood.”

“Are you cold again?” Mingyu asked, noticing how Wonwoo was clutching the bag. “Your fingers are really pale.”

“What? Oh, a bit,” Wonwoo pinked slightly more. “I don’t own mittens, you see. I always brush it off by telling myself I’ll keep my hands in my pockets, but somehow I constantly end up having to hold something or carry something and, you know-”

Mingyu tugged the bag from Wonwoo’s hands, ignoring the older boy’s protests as he took off his own mittens and handed them to the older boy. “I’ll give you my scarf too, when we get to the lake. Wear these, and put your hands in your pockets.”

“You’re so good at taking care of people,” Wonwoo said shyly, doing as Mingyu said. 

“I spend all my time babysitting Seokmin, so yeah,” Mingyu replied, swinging the bag lightly back and forth.

They shared a laugh, and Mingyu took the chance to glance at Wonwoo again, basking in the older’s delicate features, made even more softer by the cold winter air.

By the time they arrived at the lake, the snowfall had settled and the air was quiet, until of course the two figures already waiting for them noticed their arrival.

“Won!” Junhui cheered, nearly sending Wonwoo into the snow with his enthusiastic hug.

Mingyu carefully put down the bag, hugging Junhui tightly and Jihoon seconds later as the shorter boy made his way over. 

“You guys waited long?” Wonwoo asked, accepting Mingyu’s scarf.

“No, you’re punctual as always,” Jihoon laughed. “Come on, get on your skates and go.”

“Oh… right,” Wonwoo said, glancing at Mingyu. “This is Gyu’s second time skating, so I think I’ll help him out. You two go ahead.”

“Are you sure?” Junhui asked.

“Yeah, don’t wait for us.” Wonwoo patted the snow for Mingyu to sit down in as Junhui and Jihoon headed off. “Here, sit. I’ll help you get them on properly.”

Mingyu did as Wonwoo directed, flopping into the snow and stretching his legs out, watching as Wonwoo tenderly fitted the skates on. 

“Is that okay? Is it too tight?” Wonwoo asked worriedly.

“No, it’s good,” Mingyu said, blinking out of his trance. Wonwoo looked so small and adorable when he was all curled up like that.

“Okay, cool, let’s go,” Wonwoo said, standing up easily, having got on his skates by the time Mingyu had replied.

Mingyu tried to get up, but couldn’t quite master the grace that Wonwoo had just completed the same motion with. Wonwoo grabbed him by the hands to help him up, and Mingyu was glad to feel the warmth of Wonwoo’s fingers through the mittens. At least he’d been helpful somehow tonight, because from this point on until they were off the lake he was going to be such a burden.

“Here. One foot and then the other,” Wonwoo said patiently, leading him through the snow towards the crystalline edge of the lake.

“Is it safe?” Mingyu asked nervously, looking at the lake. It was just his imagination, but he felt like the ice only spread over the surface, and as soon as he’d plant his feet onto the lake the whole thing would shatter and he’d fall in. 

“Yeah, it’s completely frozen over by this point of the season,” Wonwoo assured him. “Do you want to watch me for a few minutes and then come in and try?”

Mingyu nodded shyly, feeling like Wonwoo was prompting him to take him up on this offer. “Okay.”

Wonwoo nodded, stepping backwards onto the ice. Mingyu stared worriedly at the ice, but it remained firm under the blade of the inline skates.

“Yesterday,” Wonwoo said, balancing perfectly on the ice. “You showed me your talent. I didn’t want to reveal mine to you yet, but today’s opportunity came up. Today…” Wonwoo slowly revolved on the spot, the skates scraping against the lake and creating small rivets in the ice. “Let me show you mine.”

And with that, Wonwoo was off, gliding across the surface of the lake with the poise of someone that certainly had spent a little more than ‘a bit’ of time on the ice. Jihoon and Junhui clapped appreciatively from further down, where they’d been skating happily. 

Mingyu was watching open-mouthed as Wonwoo glanced his way, smirking slightly at the expression on Mingyu’s face. 

“Wait until you see him really get into it!” Junhui hollered from across the lake. “Won, do it! Don’t keep him waiting!”

And Wonwoo made a mock bow as he jumped into the air, arcing as he performed a triple loop jump, kicking off the ice and doing three full revolutions in the air before landing back onto one foot, the other stretched behind him as his lean body stretched gracefully, Wonwoo’s head nearly dipping to the ice as he folded himself inwards before launching from the ice again, flipping in the air and anchoring himself to it once again, spinning with finesse on the spot as he grinned towards Mingyu.

“You told me you’ve skated _a bit_ !” Mingyu shouted from the shore, more impressed than offended. “You said it was a _childhood hobby_!”

Wonwoo burst into laughter as the other two did. Mingyu had never seen the put-together youth so joyful.

The three of them skated back to the edge, where they joined Mingyu’s still incredulous figure.

“You had no idea?” Jihoon collapsed into the snow, laughing hard. “Won used to do ice skating competitions before he came to Hogwarts! He got lots of state and national medals back at home!””

“What?” Mingyu stared at Wonwoo, who he’d thought he knew everything about. Their families had been friends since they were little, and he knew that Wonwoo loved books and classic literature and writing and general knowledge, but… this? This was completely new to him. “But… but I’ve known you for nearly half my life!”  
“You never asked,” Wonwoo shrugged, face pink from Mingyu’s complimenting as he brushed snow from his leggings. 

“But that’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to brag about!”

“I don’t think it’s _that_ amazing,” Wonwoo said off-handedly, but his prideful expression betrayed him.

“So… you’re like a professional.”

“I was. I did a lot of ice skating when I was little but I quit a few years ago, to focus on school and Hogwarts. But it’s like riding a bike- or in your case, a broomstick, I suppose. You never forget.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Mingyu said, glancing tentatively at the ice. “Seriously, maybe I shouldn’t… you’re really good and I promise you I suck at this…”

“And you’re really good at flying and I’m practically crap, but you still taught me something worthwhile,” Wonwoo said, grabbing Mingyu’s hands and coaxing him onto the ice. “Okay. Stand still. You’re on it now. See? You haven’t-”

Mingyu shifted one foot and the next second found himself staring up at the sky, heart having jumped into his throat as he’d fallen, his ass now stinging miserably.

“Ah,” Wonwoo chuckled as he bent down to ease Mingyu into a sitting position. “Now you earn the rewarding experience of standing back up when you can barely stand itself.”

Junhui and Jihoon snickered, and Wonwoo sent them a withering look, hands protectively around Mingyu’s. “You two go have fun over there. Be fair, okay? Nobody laughed at me yesterday so nobody should be laughing at Mingyu now.”

Oh, Wonwoo was really sexy when he was authoritative.

Mingyu probably shouldn’t be thinking like that right now. 

Jihoon stuck his tongue out at Wonwoo, Junhui following suit as the pair headed back to the part of the lake that they’d been previously occupying.

“Take your time,” Wonwoo cautioned Mingyu as he struggled to stand up. “You don’t want to fall more than necessary.”

“That I can agree with,” Mingyu panted, having made his way back to his usual height over Wonwoo, immediately slipping again and grabbing Wonwoo by the waist to hold himself up. Unfortunately, Wonwoo weighed significantly less than him (maybe Mingyu should’ve thought about something like this all those hours building muscle at the gym) and it sent them both crashing down.

“Ow,” Wonwoo groaned, luckily having fallen on top of Mingyu, which had masked the impact of the ice greatly. It wasn’t bad at all, really, his face was buried in Mingyu’s shoulder and he was enveloped once again in the scent of the sea and lavender fields. 

Wonwoo raised his head from Mingyu’s arm. “I’m fine, though. Are you okay? I fell onto you-”

“Let’s skip to the shabu shabu part of the night,” Mingyu suggested seriously, sitting up again and dusting snow from his hair. “This isn’t working.”

Jihoon and Junhui’s laughter echoed across the lake to them, and Mingyu found himself smiling as he struggled to his feet again.

❆

Wonwoo grinned as he stood, waiting for Mingyu to straighten again. 

It was the third time that Mingyu had grabbed him and fallen over, and Wonwoo had grown used to it by this point. He didn’t mind. He’d rather that he cushion some of the impact for Mingyu, and he’d feel pretty bad to watch the younger crash into the ice every time on his own. Although he felt slightly pitiful for the younger boy, Wonwoo knew that Mingyu would enjoy skating if he gave it a bit more time. 

“Come on,” Wonwoo instructed, holding out his hands for Mingyu. “Don’t be scared of falling. If you’re scared of falling, you won’t learn to move freely. And if you stay stiffened up you’ll fall more.”

“That sounds like it was taken out of one of those life advice books,” Mingyu said, breathing heavily as he grasped Wonwoo’s hands again. “If I fall one more time I’m clawing my way off here.”

“Be patient,” Wonwoo said calmly. “How about instead of me teaching you, you want to try something new?”

“Something like?” Mingyu asked nervously, his puppy eyes widening slightly at the thought of experimenting on his already shaky skills.

“I’ll glide and you can just come along,” Wonwoo explained, starting to skate backwards fluently. “I’m plenty skilled at going backwards, and this way you can actually enjoy this instead of falling over every few seconds.”

Mingyu smiled, grasping Wonwoo’s hands tightly. “I’m lousy, aren’t I?”

“Just as lousy as I’d be if you left me on a broomstick alone,” Wonwoo shrugged, crossing his feet over to change direction. Mingyu’s eyes went right to his feet, a soft ‘wow’ leaving his lips. “Skating takes a lot of practice and dedication. I didn’t just wake up and do this one day. Don’t feel bad.”

Mingyu laughed. “Okay.”

Wonwoo pulled Mingyu close suddenly, joining his skates as he did a little spin, pulling Mingyu along and enjoying the shy surprise on the other’s face. “You like it a little better now?”

“Yeah, I do,” Mingyu smiled, on instinct grabbing Wonwoo by the waist as they skated over a rough patch of ice, his hands settling lightly there as if ready to clutch at Wonwoo if he felt unsteady.

Wonwoo blushed. He didn’t even know. This was so weird. All of it. It felt like something you’d do on a date, skating at night with the castle’s lights twinkling in the distance, the stars and moon (and Jihoon and Junhui from afar) the only things keeping you company.

_Stop it._

Wonwoo didn’t know how many times he’d told himself that in the last few days.

It was something about Mingyu that made him think that way, something in the way that the handsome younger boy was always bursting with sweet charisma and endearing behavior. It made Wonwoo want to like him, like him maybe more than Wonwoo was ready to admit. But Wonwoo couldn’t like him, because there was no way Mingyu would like someone like him back, because Mingyu was just like this to everybody, because Mingyu was this sweet and charismatic and endearing to everyone he met and Wonwoo was sure that he was just thinking too much about Mingyu these days. He couldn't help it, they’d spent so much time together this week doing such strange things in close quarters that Wonwoo probably just felt a strong sense of attachment to the latter. Nobody fell in love this quickly. 

Wonwoo wasn’t in love with Kim Mingyu. He was just confused. Really, really confused. 

_Wow. Love. Love? Really, Jeon. Snap out of it._

“Won hyung!”

Wonwoo snapped out of it a bit too late, and was left to watch as Mingyu slammed into the ice again, the younger having been startled by the appearance of the irritable giant squid, which had chosen to stick its face against the other side of the ice beneath the lake to stare angrily up at time.

“Oops,” Wonwoo said guiltily, banishing his thoughts as he bent down to get Mingyu back on his feet, rapping on the ice to get the squid to shoo away and give them some privacy. “I was thinking, sorry.”

_Yeah, thinking way too much._

_Get out of your head, Jeon. It’s not happening._

❆

Soonyoung and Minghao appeared at the lake’s shore nearly an hour later, when Mingyu had gained some basic control over the ice and was able to let go of Wonwoo for considerably longer than before (twenty seconds).

“Jihoon!” Soonyoung cooed upon seeing his best friend, rushing onto the lake to give Jihoon a hug and forgetting that he was wearing shoes not compatible with the ice’s surface. Soonyoung face-planted in the ice, earning a look of exasperation from Jihoon as the shorter boy leaned down to slap at Soonyoung’s butt before treading around him and onto the snow.

Junhui was right behind him, lightly pushing past Jihoon to storm through the snow and attack Minghao with his love. Unfortunately, Junhui ended up attacking Minghao with the heavy inline skates he was still wearing, stepping on Minghao’s shoes as he attempted to grab him.

“Ow!” Minghao yelled, Junhui stumbling off as Minghao grabbed his foot. 

“Oh no!” Junhui’s wide eyes looked as if they’d start filling with tears soon. “Did I hurt you? I hurt you-”

“Nononono-” Minghao swept his boyfriend into his arms before Junhui would start bawling with regret. “I’m fine, you big dumb idiot.”

“Is insulting their kink or something?” Wonwoo murmured to Mingyu as they changed out of their skates and into their shoes, Mingyu letting out a sigh of relief upon feeling the smooth soles against his feet. Skates were not as painless as he’d remembered.

“Maybe.” Mingyu winced as he stood, glad that he didn’t have to windmill his arms for balance anymore. “My ass is going to be so sore tomorrow.”

“Yeah? Just as sore as mine was this morning. Broomsticks aren’t that comfortable either, you know.”

“I’m so hungry!” Soonyoung exclaimed, earning a laugh from everyone else.

“You didn’t even do anything the last few hours, just sat in your room and studied for once,” Wonwoo scoffed, slinging an arm around Soonyoung nevertheless as they began trekking back up towards the castle to take the path to Hogsmeade. “If anyone’s hungry it should be Mingyu. He worked so hard on the ice.” Wonwoo flashed Mingyu a beaming smile. “I’m so proud of him.”

“My pants are soaked,” Mingyu grumped, secretly glowing from Wonwoo’s compliment (he’d learned the talent of subtlety by now). “But yeah, I guess it was fun. How’s Felix, Minghao?”

Minghao blinked. “I’ve never spoken to the kid.”

“The potion, dumbass. Aren’t you the same one who chided Seokmin for making the same mistake earlier?”

Minghao rolled his eyes, swinging his bag into Mingyu’s head. “Look who’s calling me a dumbass. And yeah, the Felix Felicis is doing great. I spent a while watching it and I think it’s setting well. Snape’s gonna give me full points, I can feel it.”

Mingyu scoffed as they entered Hogsmeade, once again welcomed by the bright happy lights of the village. “He better, we worked hard as hell on it.”

“Here’s the place!” Junhui chirped, pointing at the sparkly entrance. “Shabu shabu!”

“It looks good,” Jihoon said approvingly as they pushed open the door to enter. “Hope it tastes just as good.”

The interior of the shop was decorated in red and gold and gave a warm, happy feel, the entire restaurant filled with witches and wizards dining on the exotic food. 

A waiter approached them, smiling kindly and leading them to a corner booth. “Is this enough space for you six?”  
“Oh, yeah, it’s good,” Minghao said, smirking mischievously as the waiter tapped the glasses to fill them with water and left. “We can get all cozy. Mingyu, Wonwoo, why don’t you two scoot inside? Jihoon, Soonyoung, and I can fill up the rest and we’ll let Junhui have the outer seat, seeing as he needs to pee every twenty minutes.”

“I have to drink a lot of water, okay! I’m always thirsty,” Junhui protested, everyone laughing at Minghao’s jibe and completely missing the glare that Mingyu gave Minghao as he grudgingly did so and slid into the booth, Wonwoo following obliviously.

“Almost like home,” Soonyoung beamed as the _shabu_ ingredients were brought over and placed in front of them- several trays laden with broth cups, vegetables, and meat. 

“Shabu shabu is from Japan,” Jihoon corrected.

“Alright. Just west of home.”

“Japan is east of Korea,” Jihoon said wearily, pouring broth into one of the three pots the waiter had brought over. The pots, although heated in stoves built into tables at traditional shabu shabu restaurants, were self-heated due to magical convenience. 

“If you plan to sit next to me all night and correct my grammar, Jihoon-”

“It’s geography, not grammar,” Jihoon groaned. “Soonyoung!”

“Don’t make up words!” Soonyoung returned, but he was grinning as he began loading ingredients into their pot.

“The lady brought over three pots, so why don’t we split up between the six of us?” Minghao suggested, still smirking. “Junhui and I will share, because I need to supervise his ‘cooking’, and it looks like Soonyoung and Jihoon are planning to share. Wow, look at that! Mingyu and Wonwoo should share the last pot. Funny how that lines up, huh? How perfect. Mingyu can show Wonwoo his cooking skills. Best of Korea, Mingyu is. Absolutely fabulous.”

“Don’t,” Mingyu blushed, although he was fuming inside at Minghao’s devious smile. He wanted to boil Minghao’s face in his _nabe_ pot. He decided to just take Minghao up on the compliment (it was rare to receive one from the sardonic younger and Mingyu was pretty sure he’d just gotten one in the form of Minghao’s plan to force Mingyu to cook for Wonwoo). “Yeah, I can cook for us seeing as-” Mingyu stifled a laugh at Wonwoo’s bewildered expression. “I don’t think Wonwoo’s really in his element right now.”

“I’m not good at cooking,” Wonwoo admitted with an embarrassed laugh as Mingyu set the pot down in front of them, adding the stew and the vegetables in. 

“That’s okay, hyung. I’ll always cook for you, then,” Mingyu smiled brightly at Wonwoo, hoping that sounded playful and not creepy.

“Will you ever stop calling me that?” Wonwoo asked, sounding amused. 

“Hmm, maybe not. Seeing that it bothers you,” Mingyu answered cheekily, stirring the meat into the pot.

“Someone’s been spending a lot of time with Jeonghan.”

“Guilty.”

“Look at how domestic Mingyu is!” Minghao crowed from across the table, pushing his agenda a bit far for Mingyu’s comfort. “He’s so good at cooking and cleaning and doting on people. Wow, aren’t those all things that Wonwoo isn’t as proficient in? And meanwhile Wonwoo’s good at reading and writing and book-smarts and ice skating, which Mingyu really sucks at! It’s like they complement each other! Minwon couple, am I right, haha! Right, Junhui?”

Junhui made a series of confused chewing sounds.

Wonwoo chuckled. “Minghao, did you drink before coming here?”

“Absolutely not.”

Mingyu leaned his head against the wall behind their booth and glared at Minghao through slitted eyes. He knew exactly what Minghao was up to, and although it was charming to hear Minghao list his admirable qualities (Mingyu was going to let the ice skating tease slide) he didn’t want Wonwoo to feel weird about the way Minghao was talking about him.

Minghao blinked innocently back at him, going back to chiding Junhui for accidentally stirring the pot too violently and causing some of the stew to splash over the rim.

Mingyu glanced back at Wonwoo to find the lean boy staring expectantly at the shabu shabu, his eyes wide like a baby kitten as he clutched hungrily at his bowl.

Aww. Wonwoo as a little cat. That idea hadn’t really occurred to Mingyu before, but now the more that he looked at Wonwoo the more the older boy resembled a shy pretty kitten. 

“Oh, you’re hungry,” Mingyu realized, leaning forward to check on the stew. “It’s done, I think. Here, I’ll serve you.”

“What happened to your hand?” Wonwoo said suddenly, grabbing Mingyu’s hand out of the air and inspecting it. “Oh, that looks painful.”

Mingyu glanced at the scraped skin of his palm, the result of falling over so many times back at the lake. “I’m okay. I’ve gotten worse from Quidditch.”

Wonwoo’s slender fingers skittered over the irritated area, and Mingyu knew that the burn that rose from the cuts wasn’t just from the rub of something coming in contact with them. “Still, I feel bad. This is kind of my fault. You didn’t tell me that you got hurt.”

“I swear, Won, I’m fine.”

Perhaps it was the nickname that caused Wonwoo temporary assurance, and he let Mingyu’s hand go slowly. “Okay. I have ointment in my room, do you want to come up later?”

“To your room?” Mingyu felt his heart speed up just at the idea, and firmly told himself to stop thinking like that.

“Yeah. I can show you some other stuff that you might like, now that I think about it.”

“What do you mean?”

Wonwoo smiled, reaching for the soup ladle. “You’ll see. Here. Let me serve you. You’re the baby between us, after all. Babies need more nutrition to grow, don’t you know that?”

“I’m one year younger than you,” Mingyu pouted. “And I don’t think I need to grow any more, thank you very much.”

Wonwoo glanced at Mingyu’s whole 187 centimeters of height, and chuckled. “Yeah, maybe you don’t. Up here, though-” Wonwoo lightly patted Mingyu’s head. “You’ve got some space left.” He gently pushed Mingyu’s full bowl towards the younger. “You cooked it all, so you eat first. It makes my heart happy.”

Mingyu’s adorable smile as he eagerly picked up his chopsticks _did_ make Wonwoo’s heart happy. More than he’d like to admit.

❆

“Come on, Gyu, up to my place,” Wonwoo said mindlessly as soon as they’d entered the Entrance Hall, not comprehending how stupid that sounded out loud. He wasn’t thinking straight.

Wonwoo had just spent the last hour smiling fondly at Mingyu, so much that his cheeks hurt now. He couldn’t really remember talking so much, either, especially about himself- Mingyu had still been reeling in fascination about Wonwoo’s ice skating past and Wonwoo had found himself describing his lessons and competitions from when he was young in great detail. Wonwoo liked that about Mingyu. Mingyu knew how to talk well but he also knew how to get others to talk. Wonwoo wasn’t one to talk much, but thinking back to the last hour he realized just how much he’d said. 

Wonwoo was drawn back to the present from his happy reliving of today’s events to find everyone frozen and staring at him, Mingyu included.

“To put ointment on your hand!” Wonwoo added hastily, bright red.

Soonyoung snickered and Jihoon bit his lip to stop from laughing.

“Really? Are you sure that’s why you’re going up there?” Minghao teased, Junhui giggling madly at Wonwoo’s previous statement.

“Shut up,” Mingyu said, cheeks flushed as he clutched to Wonwoo’s hand. 

“Maybe they’re going to take care of some naughty business,” Soonyoung ooed, and that was just completely out of line.

Wonwoo glared at his friends and tugged Mingyu up the staircase, the raucous laughter from below them making Mingyu blush harder. “Ignore them. Especially Soonyoung. He can’t make two jokes without one of them being about sex. I’m obviously not taking you to my room to have sex with you, you know.”

Mingyu was red-faced at this point as he nodded quickly. “Yeah, of course.” 

Great. If Wonwoo could say anything stupider…

Wonwoo decided to just shut up, and the rest of the way to his dormitory passed in silence. 

The Ravenclaw knocker was snoozing when Wonwoo touched it, and it awoke with a snap, clearly ready to dish out a particularly difficult riddle for whoever had awoken it. “How is seven different from all the other numbers between one and ten?”

“Oh right, we’ve got to do this,” Mingyu said dejectedly. “Please tell me you know the answer.”

Wonwoo hummed in thought, holding up a hand. “Unfortunately, no. There’s a new one like five times a day. Wait. Let me think about it. Seven is a prime number, but so are two, three, and five… you could give it a try, too, I suppose, they’re not all as hard as they seem, you just have to think a bit…”

Mingyu put his face in his hands and sat down on the floor, evidently having given up already at the idea of doing so much brain work at 9 PM. Wonwoo chuckled softly, going back to his division tables in his head.

Nearly five minutes later, when Wonwoo was under the assumption that Mingyu had dozed off while waiting for him, the younger’s eyes shot open as he jumped to his feet. “Won hyung! Isn’t it because seven has two syllables and every other number has only one?”  
Wonwoo gaped at Mingyu, having been lost in calculations. “Oh my god! You’re right.”

Mingyu repeated his answer to the knocker, which snickered at Wonwoo- _“And you’re supposed to be the Ravenclaw?”_ -as it unlocked the door and allowed them in. 

“That was really smart, Gyu!” Wonwoo said, thoroughly impressed as he ruffled Mingyu’s hair. “Well done. And welcome in.”

“Woah,” Mingyu said appreciatively. “It’s so pretty here.”

“Thanks,” Wonwoo said, feeling proud of his House as he watched Mingyu take in the arched glass ceilings of the Ravenclaw common room, the shelves full with books and the entire place covered in tables and chairs of all sorts for people to come in and read.

“It looks like it’s got more books in it than the library,” Mingyu commented as Wonwoo put his hands on Mingyu’s shoulders from behind and gently steered Mingyu towards his staircase.

“It’s even prettier in the daytime. You should visit one of these days. Just knock and yell through, we usually let people in because the knocker’s bitter most of the time and loves giving hard riddles. We get that people aren’t always in the mood to stand there and answer.”

“Seeing as I just answered the riddle before you, maybe I’m fit to try another instead of yelling for someone to come unlock the door,” Mingyu teased as Wonwoo opened his door and let Mingyu in. “Oh, right, prefect privilege. You get your own room.”

“Yeah I do,” Wonwoo grinned. “Jealous?”

“Not really. I’d feel lonely to sleep alone.” Mingyu sat down calmly on the bed right after that, completely oblivious to the absolutely adorable thing he’d just admitted like it was a fact taken for granted.

“Oh really?” Wonwoo asked, retrieving the ointment he kept in his nightstand (Junhui scraped himself up often). 

“Yeah. It’s really sad to sleep alone, I think. Plus, I’m scared of the dark.” Mingyu blushed. “Wait. I wasn’t supposed to tell other people that.”

“It’s okay, I’m not a fan of the dark either,” Wonwoo said, kneeling in front of the bed and taking Mingyu’s palm into his hands. “Here, let me see… tell me if it burns.”

Mingyu gasped softly as the ointment touched the raw skin, and Wonwoo squeezed the younger’s good hand gently, allowing Mingyu to hold it. 

Mingyu watched quietly as Wonwoo tenderly spread ointment onto his palm, finishing with a little bit of gauze to keep the medicine in place. “It’s diluted with essence of dittany, so it’ll heal within the hour.”

“Thanks,” Mingyu said gratefully as Wonwoo stood, returning the materials to the cupboard before walking across the room to get the other thing he’d wanted Mingyu to see. 

“No problem. Here, this is what I wanted to show you.” Wonwoo placed the book in Mingyu’s lap.

“What’s this?” Mingyu pondered, opening it to find pictures of tiny Wonwoo in sparkling leotards, the moving photos documenting Wonwoo doing flips and spins on the ice. “Woah!”

“My parents took these for me back when I did skating,” Wonwoo explained as Mingyu pored over the pictures with shining admiration in his eyes. “Nice, right?”

“Yeah! Hyung, these are amazing.”

“Thanks.” Wonwoo watched Mingyu affectionately, noting how carefully Mingyu held the book, the very sight of Mingyu’s fingers curled delicately around the spine making Wonwoo’s heart go soft.

Wonwoo blinked and for the thousandth time that night, told himself to snap out of it.

Dear god.

Fifteen minutes later, when Mingyu had finished looking through all the pictures, he glanced up at Wonwoo again, a new worry in his eyes. “Hyung. I can’t go back to my dormitory now, because we’re past curfew.”

Wonwoo half suggested to Mingyu to just stay here and sleep with him, but that would’ve definitely sounded way too weird for an already strange evening and he really didn’t want Mingyu thinking he was that kind of person. So instead he said, “I’m a prefect, I can walk you back.”

“Okay,” Mingyu said doubtfully, almost as if he’d been hoping to be invited to stay, but that was probably just Wonwoo’s wishful thinking. “Thanks.”  
It was when they were just outside the Gryffindor portrait hole did Wonwoo find the courage to ask, “What are you doing tomorrow?”  
Mingyu looked at him with shining eyes. “I’m going shopping in Hogsmeade with Hao and Seok. We’ve got to buy Christmas presents for all of you, for the party on Friday. You are coming to the party, right?”

_You will find the love of your life at my Christmas Eve party._

Nope, Wonwoo was not going to think about that now.

Slightly disappointed that he might not have the chance to hang out with Mingyu tomorrow, but at the same time grateful to see him at the party, Wonwoo nodded. “Yeah. I am. Well, maybe I’ll see you around tomorrow, then. We’re going shopping too.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Mingyu cheeped, climbing through his portrait hole. “Night, Won!”

“Goodnight, Mingyu,” Wonwoo smiled, and remained standing there and grinning minutes after Mingyu had already left.

“Are you planning to climb in after him or just smile stupidly at my portrait for the rest of the night?” The Fat Lady crabbed, and Wonwoo blinked out of his trance.

“Oh, right, sorry,” he apologized, turning around and making his way back towards his dormitory, his smile still bright even as his cheeks ached. 

☾

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m so tired but here’s stave iv!! i guess i set myself up by telling myself id do a stave a day until christmas eve.. hehe
> 
> tomorrow’s stave is short but the last one is gonna be super long!! until tmr see you all <3
> 
> i ask you to not be a silent reader and leave some love in the comments, even a simple compliment makes my day 🥺
> 
> thank you for reading!! happy holidays  
> -mingyuwu


	5. STAVE V. The Penultimate Night

“I just love Christmas,” Seungkwan sighed happily as the three youngest walked through Hogsmeade village. “The air’s all romantic and there’s so many chances for love, don’t you think so, Sol?”

Hansol nodded, an expression of content on his face as he looked around at all the shops. “Yeah, Boo, I reckon.”

Chan groaned to himself, dragging his boots in the snow as he followed the other two. He’d begged to accompany Jeonghan, Seungcheol, and Joshua in their holiday shopping, but Jeonghan had insisted that Chan go along with Seungkwan and Hansol, explaining that he had to go pick up ornaments and decorations for tomorrow’s holiday party and Chan would just be ‘adorably in the way’. 

So Jeonghan had fussed over Chan wearing his warmest jacket (Slytherins were always coddling to their own spawns) and Joshua had made Chan put on his most reliant boots (Ravenclaws were always educated on snowfall rates and proper clothing articles) and Seungcheol had weighed Chan down with a pocketful of early holiday galleons (Gryffindors were always sweetest when it came to generosity towards self-claimed little brothers). And without further ado Chan had been bundled up in (for his troubles weren’t over) Jeonghan’s beanie, Seungcheol’s scarf, and Joshua’s mittens, and sent out like a little parcel sandwiched between two idiots in love who most likely forgot he was trailing along behind them. 

Chan groaned again, hoping Seungkwan and Hansol would take the hint and just kiss.

They didn’t.

A raucous group of holiday partiers ran by on the street, whooping and cheering with streamers of red, green, and white fanning out behind them.

“You walk on the inside of the road, Boo, it’s not safe,” Hansol declared, wrapping an arm around Seungkwan and maneuvering him to the inside of the pavement himself. Chan scoffed to himself. Nobody was watching out to make sure he wasn’t getting kidnapped or run over. He should find a lover soon, or maybe a helpless flirt like one of these two.

Seungkwan’s eyes were practically dripping with honey. “You’re always so thoughtful, Sol.”

“Hehe, thanks.”

“It’s just the Gryffindor in you,” Seungkwan sighed lovingly, gazing up at Hansol, who was distracted watching a candy display in the shopfront across the street.

“I guess, yeah.” Hansol grinned at Seungkwan, looping his arm through the other’s. “Should we go buy some candy? Holiday spirit and all. I’ll pay.”

“Ooh, yes,” Seungkwan smiled back. “I’d love to.”

“Cross the street carefully,” Hansol directed Seungkwan, throwing a “Come along, Channie,” over his shoulder to Chan before the pair of them began rushing across the street.

Chan rolled his eyes and scampered after his hyungs before someone else came by and trampled him underfoot. At the rate these two were obliviously hitting on each other, they wouldn’t notice by the time Jeonghan arrived fuming and demanding where his ‘Channie’ was.

What an afternoon it was bound to be. 

❆

“So, last night,” was the first thing Soonyoung chose to launch into conversation with as the quartet strolled down Hogsmeade Lane.

Wonwoo groaned. “Please, no.”

“What exactly went down in your room with Mingyu?” Jihoon pressed.

“Where were  _ you _ ?” Wonwoo frowned. “You didn’t come up to the Ravenclaw dormitory with us, now that I think about it.”

Jihoon shiftily muttered something, falling silent.

“So what happened?” Junhui whined, kicking at a mass of ice and dislodging it from its frozen position.

“Nothing. I put dittany on his hand and walked him to his place.”

“Oho,” Soonyoung grinned. “That’s new.”

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. “Dear god.”

“But Won,” Jihoon began again. “You really looked like you had so much fun last night with Mingyu.”

“Of course it was fun,” Wonwoo bluffed. “I like spending time with all of you.”

“Cut the theatrics, you’re so into him,” Junhui scoffed, licking at his Honeydukes ice cream (Wonwoo didn’t know many people who ate ice cream in the dead of winter, but there weren’t many people like Junhui anyway).

“I’m not into him. He’s a year younger than me, and we’re totally different people.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Wonwoo sighed. He had to say something convincing or they’d start ooing again. 

He chose to stop in the middle of the street, not caring that he was blocking people. He thought he heard someone call his name, but he was too focused on getting his point across. “No, really. He’s a great guy but he’s just not my type. Mingyu’s an amazing friend and a precious person but I can’t see myself ever dating him. We’re not compatible.”

“Won,” Jihoon muttered, glancing behind them. “ _ Won _ .”

“And if you all could quit teasing me about it, I’d appreciate it,” Wonwoo continued, ignoring Jihoon. 

“Wonwoo,” Soonyoung said, his voice low as he looked in the same direction as Jihoon had. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about-”

“No, we should. We should talk about this right now. All week you’ve been shoving me at him,” Wonwoo said, immersed in his dramatics now. Wonwoo had realized that if he delivered this performance with a lot of feeling maybe it’d get him to snap out of whatever dreamy euphoria he was in. He was more talking himself out of the hole he already knew he was in. “And don’t you think that’s made me a little uncomfortable? I honestly don’t have interest in Mingyu, and I don’t want to date him. So just quit it.”

“ _ Wonwoo _ ,” Junhui said through gritted teeth, and it was then that Wonwoo glanced over, then looked at where all three had been staring: directly behind him, where Minghao, Seokmin, and Mingyu stood unsurely, as if they’d just walked in on something they really shouldn’t have. 

Seokmin was staring open-mouthed at Wonwoo, Minghao was exchanging a series of looks with Junhui, and Mingyu was looking at the ground.

“Gyu,” Wonwoo said stupidly. “You’re here.”

Mingyu raised his eyes to Wonwoo’s, casual and free. “Hey, Won.”

And Wonwoo realized who he’d heard calling his name.

❆

“Why are we at Hogsmeade’s chocolate confectionery?” Joshua asked carefully. You always had to ask questions carefully when Jeonghan was responsible for answering.

“Because we’ve got to pick up our chocolate, of course,” Jeonghan answered crisply, pulling open the door with such force that he nearly beheaded Seungcheol, who’d been trying to be a gentleman to open it for Jeonghan.

Jeonghan didn’t care for being a gentleman, so he held the door for himself and himself only, sweeping into the shop and leaving the door to slam back into the frame. Rolling their eyes, the other two prised it open and followed.

Jeonghan was already at the counter, not waiting for his boyfriends as he consulted the cashier. “I’m here to pick up an order scheduled for 3 PM.”

“Uh… sir, it’s 5:15…?”

“Yes, well, on the order form you sent me via owl, you only had order pick up slots open between 10 AM to 3 PM.” Jeonghan drummed his fingers on the counter impatiently. “How am I supposed to come down here and get my order when I’m supposed to be in school? You know you have students from up at the school that’d also like to order from your shop, right? Gods, does nobody know how to run a business anymore?”

“Han,” Seungcheol said imploringly, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend and leaning over the counter to talk to the cashier. “We’re Head Boys up at Hogwarts, you see, and we’ve got a lot of responsibilities. Coming down to Hogsmeade to pick up our order during the school day isn’t… ideal, if you could understand…” Seungcheol finished politely, hoping he didn’t sound rude. He didn’t know what order Jeonghan had placed here, but it seemed important and he didn’t want Jeonghan to get upset. Not for the sake of Jeonghan’s easily bruised ego, but more for the poor cashier that would really suffer if Jeonghan got angry.

“Er… sir… there’s an owl delivery service for those who can’t pick up their packages in person… that’s available around the clock, sir, you could’ve selected that option…” the cashier said tentatively to Jeonghan, and Seungcheol looked at the latter exasperatedly.

“Seriously, Han, why didn’t you-” 

“I had to come here in person to make sure that the goods I ordered were perfect!” Jeonghan snapped. “What was I supposed to do!”

Joshua cued himself to wrap his arm around Jeonghan’s other side, taking his turn as the other voice of reason to address the cashier. “Please forgive the delay. We really apologize. Is there any way we can still get what we ordered?” Similarly to Seungcheol, he had no idea what the actual order entailed, but he really wanted this man to get home to his family tonight. 

“Of course, we keep everything in the back,” the nonplussed man said, bewildered. “I’ll go retrieve it. There’ll be a late fee for the pickup time, but you can still get your package.”

“Thank you,” Jeonghan said briskly, staring at the man’s back as he left the counter.

“Han, you’ve got to stop being such a bitch to people. It’s endearing to us but other people think you’re actually mad,” Joshua murmured to Jeonghan, Seungcheol pressing a consoling kiss to Jeonghan’s ear to pacify him. 

Jeonghan merely exhaled sharply through his nose, glaring at the swinging doors leading to the confectionary’s kitchen as the man returned, holding what looked like a cardstock cake box with a transparent plastic top that allowed for the contents to be examined (as Jeonghan was sure to do so as soon as they arrived to the counter). “Maybe I am mad. Stupid people. Have no idea what they’re doing, do they?”

Seungcheol snorted, then choked as he caught sight of the fifty-something tiny chocolate figurines that Jeonghan had ordered. “Holy- what the  _ fuck _ are those?”

“Sexy snakes having sex,” the man read off the receipt slowly, giving Jeonghan a look of terrified concern as he slid the aforementioned slip of paper across the counter at him. Seungcheol stared, distraught, at the fifty seven (he’d counted by now, with so many friends in his circle he’d grown adept at rapidly grouping large numberings together to make sure they hadn’t lost anyone) little chocolate sculptures, each one an identical rendering to the horrifying thing Jeonghan had put on his Christmas card. They’d even gotten the position smack-dab correct, with the twining tails impeccably detailed in their twistings. 

“Why did you name the order that?” Joshua breathed, staring at the nauseating sight before his eyes.

“I was under pressure, okay, the order had to be named before sending the form and it was the most precise description I could think of. And I enclosed a cutout of the picture from the card so that they had a nice thing to go off of when designing it,” Jeonghan said, leaning so close to the plastic that his nose was nearly touching it as he inspected the snakes. “They’re not my standard of perfect, but they’ll do for tomorrow night. Let’s hurry up and pay here, I still have to get the baubles.”

“Baubles,” Seungcheol said faintly. “What’s the decoration on the baubles?”

Jeonghan beamed at him. “You’ll see.”

“Sign here and deliver the payment on behalf of the Gringotts Vault Number you listed at the time of the order,” the man explained, passing a quill over the table as he pointed at the receipt.

“What vault number did you put? Your parents’?” Seungcheol questioned Jeonghan as Jeonghan elegantly marked his swoopy signature on the parchment.

“GVN 171-003,” Jeonghan said innocently, Seungcheol gaping at him.

“Han! Stop using Seungcheol’s credit line!” Joshua admonished.

“He said he didn’t know what he was going to do with all that inheritance his great-aunt left his family!” Jeonghan whined, the cashier staring at the three of them.

“I wasn’t planning to spend it on snake intercourse chocolate figurines, but here we are,” Seungcheol sighed. “Yeah, I’ll pay.”

“I love you, Cheol.”

“Mhm.”

Joshua rolled his eyes, leaving the two to it and heading next door to the Cinnabon to finalize the catering order for tomorrow night. 

❆

“Hey… guys…” Minghao said slowly, thoroughly aware that if he didn’t make things better soon, Mingyu would burst into tears and that’d kind of ruin this whole week’s plan of getting Wonwoo into him. Mingyu was a charmer, but in Minghao’s opinion an ugly crier. Loving opinion, of course. Minghao prided himself on being the first person to sacrifice his hate-touching-others ideals to wrap Mingyu up in his hugs (also because Mingyu liked to cry loudly and the quicker Minghao shut him up, the better). 

Wonwoo, Jihoon, Junhui, and Soonyoung all stared back, dumbstruck.

Minghao scraped at the snow with his foot, staring at his boyfriend to unfreeze and help him out a bit.

Junhui snapped out of it, crossing the imaginary border line between the two groups and hugging him tightly. “Hao!” Pressing a kiss to his lips, Junhui murmured, “What kind of shit did Wonwoo just get into?”

“I have no idea,” Minghao whispered back. Seokmin now had an arm not-so-subtly around Mingyu’s stiff figure and was glaring daggers at Wonwoo.

“I was just looking for you guys,” Minghao said, pulling away from the latter and raising his voice to address the general audience. “Seokmin and I wanted to leave Mingyu with these three to go and get his presents.”

Seokmin turned his glare on Minghao. This had actually been the plan, which Mingyu had agreed to, wanting to spend time with Wonwoo while Seokmin and Minghao went to get his presents. But the tables had turned now, and Minghao knew that Seokmin wasn’t willing to leave Mingyu with these four now that he’d heard what Wonwoo had been saying.

Minghao was feeling pretty unsure too now, but he knew that any chance of Wonwoo seeing Mingyu differently now really depended on the thing that he and Seokmin were planning to get, so there was no skirting around leaving Mingyu with the sixth years. 

“Sure,” Soonyoung said, breaking the silence. “We’re planning to go to Cinnabon to warm up, seeing as Honeydukes was absolutely stuffed when we dropped in a few minutes ago. Mingyu, want to come hang with?”   
Mingyu was staring at Wonwoo like a lost puppy, but blinked and nodded when Soonyoung spoke to him.

And then, with such a usual air of the way Mingyu talked, so happy and bright that it broke Minghao’s heart to see his friend acting so well to cover how sad he felt, Mingyu replied cheerfully, “Sure, I’d love to come too!” 

Wonwoo was staring at Mingyu, his face blank but cheeks pink as Mingyu walked over to where the older boy stood, smiling brightly at him. 

“I’ll come with you and Seokmin, Hao,” Junhui said quickly, having scanned the tension in the atmosphere and apparently concluded that he didn’t favor spending the next however-long with Wonwoo and Mingyu and whatever horrible awkwardness was between them.

Jihoon gave Junhui an exasperated look of ‘you’re leaving me with these three?’ as he glanced at Soonyoung, Wonwoo, and Mingyu.

“Bye, guys, have fun,” Junhui said hurriedly, flashing them a smile before grabbing the still-glaring Seokmin and Minghao by the arms and dragging them in the opposite direction.

“Why on earth would you leave Gyu with them?” Seokmin said through gritted teeth as they hurried down Hogsmeade Lane. “I know Wonwoo is Soonyoung’s best friend, and I’m also Soonyoung’s best friend, but I feel like I’m about to storm back over there and smack Wonwoo so hard for talking about Gyu like that-”

“What else was I supposed to do?” Minghao said worriedly, glancing behind them. “We have to get the you-know-what!”

“What exactly is the you-know-what?” Junhui asked.

“Our Christmas present for Gyu,” Seokmin said. “Hao, are you sure we should even get this for him now? Isn’t the point of the gift to help him with Wonwoo? Now that we know Wonwoo isn’t even considering Mingyu an option, it’ll just make Mingyu look stupid-”

“Wonwoo was lying about his feelings,” Junhui said solemnly. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. I can promise this to you with a hundred percent sincerity. Wonwoo’s lying so hard about it. I don’t know if he’s trying to convince himself or us or what- he’s completely got feelings for Mingyu. I’ve never seen Wonwoo smiling like he’s smiled this whole week. Hell, Wonwoo got on a broom for him and did a triple loop jump skating trick for him. You know that Wonwoo hasn’t skated in like, a year? Yesterday he was on the ice before going to get Mingyu, making sure that he had the move down perfectly, he had us observe him do it over and over and over. He even made us pretend like he was arriving for the first time when he came with Mingyu. He’s obsessed with Gyu. When you do that much for a person, you’re completely in love with them.”

Minghao gave Seokmin a knowing look. “And there’s the proof.”

“What proof?”

“Wen Junhui stopped goofing around and talked seriously for nearly a minute.”

Seokmin smiled slightly. “Still, I feel bad for Mingyu… he might really think he doesn't have a chance with Wonwoo, he’s probably super sad right now.”

Minghao’s heart panged again at the effortless smile Mingyu had portrayed for the sixth years minutes ago. “Everything will be set right tomorrow.”

“What is the Christmas present, though?” Junhui pressed.

Minghao glanced around, making sure no passing villagers or students doing shopping were listening (like anybody would care) and whispered it in Junhui’s ear, Junhui smiling slowly as he realized how absolutely genius his boyfriend was.

“Do you think you understand?” Minghao smiled at Junhui’s reaction.

“Hao, it’s brilliant!” Junhui gushed. “Oh, god.”

“Thank me later,” Minghao winked. “I know Mingyu will.”

“How did you think of it?”

“Just instinct,” Minghao raked his hair off his forehead, looking dashingly handsome as he always did when he showed Junhui how sexy his mind was. 

“Wait…” Junhui smirked slowly, the devilish smile looking rather off-place on the lips of the sweet Hufflepuff. “I might be able to pull some strings, too. On Wonwoo’s end.”

“What does that mean?” Seokmin prodded, looking nervous.

Junhui lowered his voice and told them his idea.

Minghao and Seokmin were wide-eyed by the time he finished.

“But… it’ll have to be natural,” Minghao said, rather worried as he surmised Junhui. “You’ll overdo it. He’ll suspect.”

Junhui smirked. “Oh, who said I’ll be doing it? I’m hiring a natural.”

“I think I know who you’re talking about,” Minghao chuckled. “Don’t worry. I can picture it already.”

“Christmas Chaos indeed,” Seokmin laughed. “Oh, look, we’re here.”

“They’re rarely in stock, I hope we can get one,” Minghao sighed a prayer as they stood outside Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes Hogsmeade Branch, the inside brightly lit and jam-packed with students.

“I think they’ll have one,” Junhui said. 

“Let’s go,” Seokmin said, tugging them towards the doors.

And the three musketeers headed inside.

❆

Mingyu shifted uncomfortably on the bench.

Wonwoo shifted uncomfortably next to him.

Across the table from them, Jihoon shifted uncomfortably.

Next to the short Ravenclaw, Soonyoung grinned at the other three, half-finished with his cinnamon roll, vanilla cream all over his face. “The food is so good here!”

“Yes, it is,” Wonwoo said, eyeing Soonyoung with mild concern.

Jihoon sighed and wiped Soonyoung’s lips with the napkin for him. “Idiot.”

“Reminds me of Junhui and Minghao,” Mingyu mumbled to Wonwoo, earning a soft laugh from the older as Jihoon and Soonyoung began bickering over Soonyoung getting his fingers sticky. “Maybe they’re hiding something?”

“If those two were hiding something, I’d know about it.”

Mingyu laughed, and they settled back into silence, the tension slightly eased.

Mingyu was laughing and cracking jokes, sure, but his mind was completely blank. He couldn't even think or process. 

All he could remember was calling Wonwoo’s name and arriving behind him to listen to Wonwoo talking about all the reasons he didn’t care for dating Mingyu. 

It had hurt like hell, and he knew that the first chance he got he was going to start crying, but for now he had to hold it together and sit here and smile and try not to be awkward because otherwise Wonwoo would know and Mingyu would rather Wonwoo not know than Wonwoo knowing he was upset because there was only one reason why Mingyu would be upset right now and it was pretty obvious what that was-

“Aren’t you going to eat this?” Wonwoo asked Mingyu gently, pointing at the cinnamon roll between them. “You like these, right?”

“Ah… yeah, I guess,” Mingyu said, then reminded himself that was not how he usually talked. So, spreading a bright smile on his face, he attacked the cinnamon roll, and to be honest it did make him feel a little better, especially when Wonwoo dabbed at his lips with the napkin so gently. 

Except Mingyu couldn’t think that way, because Wonwoo had made it clear that he did not care for Mingyu the way Mingyu cared for him.

So Mingyu shoved everything under and wondered how this week had gone so horribly wrong as he ate the cinnamon roll and smiled for this miserable performance.

❆

Joshua swept back into the Hogsmeade Chocolate Confectionery, beaming as he rushed over to where Jeonghan and Seungcheol were, Jeonghan handing Seungcheol’s coins over the counter as the latter struggled with the heavy box of chocolate ornaments.

“Do you ever help with anything?” Joshua said exasperatedly. “It’s your order, why are you making poor Cheol carry it?”

Jeonghan blinked innocently at him. “He always brags about his gym body when he wants to get naughty with me, so I’ve just told him that if he wants to turn me on he should show off his big muscles by carrying this for me.”

The cashier was, at this point, looking completely scarred (Joshua didn’t even want to know what had transpired in the two minutes he’d been next door at Cinnabon). So, to ease the poor man’s traumas, Joshua ushered Jeonghan and Seungcheol from the store, impatient for them to hear the news.

“You won’t believe what I saw when I was finalizing the catering order.”

“What?”

“Mingyu and Wonwoo! They’re together! Inside the Cinnabon store!”

“They’re fucking in the Cinnabon?” Jeonghan screeched, causing passerby to look at the trio, absolutely terrified.

“What!?  _ No _ !” Joshua glanced around, giving people apologetic looks as he began steering Jeonghan away from the Cinnabon entrance (Jeonghan had started raring for the door, evidently thinking he’d see something fun inside). “They’re just sitting and eating with Soonyoung and Jihoon. You are not going to bother them. Let’s be respectful, let them have some organic time together without us shoving them together.”

“Please, let’s get back to the castle fast,” Seungcheol moaned, struggling under the weight of the box. 

“Don’t think that’s happening anytime soon,” Jeonghan said, still looking behind them. “We’ve got a crisis, apparently.”

“Why’s that?” Joshua asked, turning to find Seungkwan and Hansol rushing up to them, the pair frantic and pale-faced. “What’s wrong, you two?”

Seungkwan gulped, looking at Jeonghan fearfully. “Um…”

“Hang on,” Jeonghan said, his voice low and dangerous. “Where’s Channie?”

Hansol and Seungkwan exchanged a look. “Well, you see, that’s what we…” Hansol began, faltering into nothing.

Jeonghan narrowed his eyes, the demonic libra energy radiating off of him as he shook off Joshua’s arm and stalked up to the two younger boys, glaring at them. “Where the fuck is my Channie?”   
“He’s… um… we lost him…” Seungkwan peeped.

“Where did you lose him?” Jeonghan snapped. 

“Well… you know… if we knew that, we’d’ve found him,” Hansol said, smiling slightly, the smile dropping off his face abruptly when Jeonghan turned his stare on him. 

“Take me with you, we’ll go find him,” Jeonghan ordered. “Retrace your steps. Shua, Cheol, go back to the school and put the box in my room. I’ll send an owl if we don’t find Chan by midnight.”

Joshua suppressed an eye roll. Chan was fifteen, not five. He could probably find his way back to the school- in fact, he probably had taken the first opportunity to slip away from the other two, sulky that Jeonghan hadn’t let him come along with him, and rush back to the school.

“Okay, Han,” Seungcheol said solemnly, apparently deciding to humor Jeonghan in his madness. Or perhaps he just wanted to get the box off his hands as soon as possible, because people walking close enough to look inside the package’s transparent top had given Seungcheol some curious expressions. “You let us know, baby.”

“I will,” Jeonghan said firmly, pressing a kiss to both Joshua’s and Seungcheol’s cheeks before grasping both Seungkwan and Hansol by the elbows and dragging them back up the street.

The two boyfriends watched their third go, giving each other an exasperated smile as they fell into step, Joshua helping Seungcheol hold one side of the box so he could take his hand with the other.

“Why are we in love with him?” Seungcheol said breathlessly, stumbling slightly under the weight of the chocolate figurines. “Sometimes I wonder how the three of us figured this relationship out.”

Joshua shrugged. “Han’s sweet deep down, you know.”

Seungcheol chuckled. “I know.”

“But maybe you should change your Gringotts vault password.”

A laugh. “I’m planning on it.”

❆

Mingyu sniffled, miserably nibbling on another Chocolate Frog. 

“Come on, Gyu, it’s not that bad,” Seokmin said softly, patting Mingyu’s head.

“It is that bad and you know it,” Mingyu said, his voice breaking as he rolled over to stare at the green-and-silver canopy of Minghao’s four poster. He did not want to cry. This was something stupid to cry over.

Minghao sat up a little straighter from where he’d been curled up against the bed’s headboard. “You’re reading too much into it. He could’ve been just saying it.”

“That didn’t sound like he was ‘just saying it’,” Mingyu shot back, crumpling the wrapper and throwing it over the edge of the bed. Minghao gave him a disparaging look for littering, but recognized Mingyu’s currently fragile emotional state and chose to abstain from giving him a lecture. 

It was currently 10 PM, and they were ensconced in Minghao’s room, relishing the benefits of their prefect friend’s private room as they usually did (Minghao pretended to hate them for crashing his room 24/7 and always threatened to remove the recognition charm on his doorknob, but he hadn’t yet and they doubted he ever would, this warning had been held over their heads for years by this point). 

Mingyu had been rescued from Cinnabon by the other two relatively fast, and they’d spent the rest of the evening together in their pajamas here, Mingyu eating away his worries with chocolate and Minghao and Seokmin consoling him. Mingyu knew that the other two genuinely felt bad for him, because Minghao usually kicked them out of here by 8 every evening (Minghao religiously practiced a perfect sleep schedule). Tomorrow was, as the last day of term before the holidays, a half-day of school, so Mingyu was pretty sure they’d all fall asleep in a warm heap on Minghao’s bed tonight- it wasn’t his biggest concern. Wonwoo was, as of right now. 

“Maybe Wonwoo’s just unsure of his feelings. He has to feel something,” Seokmin persisted. “There’s no way he’s not at least questioning his feelings for you. No way. Not after everything that’s happened this week.”

“Well then, he shouldn’t have led me on all week if he was unsure,” Mingyu said, and the tears that’d been pooling in his eyes finally escaped, streaking down his cheeks.

Minghao crawled across the bed, gently holding Mingyu’s face in his hands and wiping at his cheeks. “No, don’t cry, Gyu, it’s not something worth crying over…”

Mingyu laughed weakly through his tears. “Here you are, taking care of me, always saying you don’t care for my crying…”

Minghao didn’t laugh, merely continued tenderly dabbing at Mingyu’s face. 

“I don’t think he was leading you on,” Seokmin said placatingly, folding his legs. “I really think he was just trying to figure things out. Still is.”

Mingyu blinked hard, biting his lip. “I just… I’ve liked him for so freaking long and I don’t know, I really thought I’d started to get him to see me a bit differently and he goes and says that.” He sniffled again. “How pathetic.”

The door snapped open and Jeonghan moseyed in, wearing- what else- a cucumber face mask, his hair drawn back in yet another pink fluffy headband- seriously, where was he getting those?- and coated in undoubtedly some mixture of cinnamon, cocoa, and honey. Mingyu was surprised he’d learned that much from Jeonghan a few nights ago, although he was pretty sure he was never going to use those beauty tips again in his life. There was nobody to impress with them anymore, anyway.

“Why don’t you remove him from the door recognition charm?” Seokmin asked Minghao, nodding at Jeonghan.

“He told me that he’d curse the whole door off if I did,” Minghao said glumly. “Plus, he’s Head Boy of my house, so it’d be kind of weird if I jinxed the door to keep him out.”

“Nice to see you too, lads,” the Slytherin Head Boy said cheerfully, kicking the door shut behind him and walking over, sinking down on the edge of the bed. “Why so teary-eyed?”   
“Nothing special, just listened to Wonwoo rejecting me to his friends for a good few minutes,” Mingyu said dully. “What’s with the facial? Going somewhere special?” He really didn’t want to talk about Wonwoo right now, so he hoped Jeonghan took up the bait and started talking about his own plans. 

Jeonghan’s mouth had actually fallen open at Mingyu’s first words, and it must’ve been a real source of shock because he didn’t take the opportunity to start talking about himself as usual. “Wonwoo did  _ what _ ?”

Minghao nodded grimly, stroking Mingyu’s hair. “Gyu’s distraught. It was harsh.”

“That asshole!” Jeonghan crossed his arms irritably, as if he hadn’t been spending his week trying to get Mingyu with ‘that asshole’. “Well! You know what we are going to do now?”

“Try and pretty me up so Wonwoo realizes what he’s missing?” Mingyu replied listlessly.

“Hell to the no,” Jeonghan snorted, already sashaying from the room and back with his beauty tray. “You don’t need no man, Gyu. You’re going to pretty yourself up for  _ you _ .”

Mingyu was just so done with everything that he didn’t even object to whatever Jeonghan was planning to do, just rolled on his back and stared at the ceiling and let Jeonghan spread beauty mixes on his face and in his hair. Who gave a damn anymore?

“Don’t worry, I’ll see what I can do tomorrow at the party,” Jeonghan assured Mingyu. “He’s a waste if he’s talking about you like that, but you’re desperate for him so what can I do to deter you? I’ll talk to Wonwoo. Nicely. And subtly.”

A few seconds ago, Mingyu hadn’t bothered telling Jeonghan the actual details of what Wonwoo said, and he realized that Jeonghan now thought that Wonwoo had been slandering him instead of just politely stating that Mingyu wasn’t his type. Whatever. This whole mess was behind him. 

“Did you do your facial and hair for tomorrow’s party, Jeonghan? And did you get your party preparations at Hogsmeade?” Seokmin asked.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe why I’m actually doing my face,” Jeonghan said suddenly, launching into a story. “Those complete boobs Seungkwan and Hansol- why are you all laughing? They left poor Channie all alone in Honeydukes, and you know it’s so crowded during the holiday season, and by the time we found him he was absolutely loopy on all that candy, he was giggling the whole way back to the castle, and I may have started crying halfway through our search, so you know just how much my face dried out from that, so of course as soon as we got back to the castle last hour-”

“You got back to the castle at 9 and started looking for him… around 6, when we were at Hogsmeade?” Minghao cackled. “Three hours for Chan to get high on candy. Good for him. He probably had the time of his life.”

“Yes, and I’m never leaving him with those two again. Utterly irresponsible of them to lose him like that! How unfocused were they? I should’ve just let him come with us. Speaking of us, I don’t know why on earth Shua and Cheol are so affronted by the decorations I’ve ordered-”

“What exactly are those decorations?” Mingyu found himself asking, smiling despite his rather down mood. He couldn’t help it. 

“Well, you’ll see tomorrow. Stop smiling, the cucumber won’t stick.”

Seokmin flopped down next to Mingyu and squeezed the latter’s hand comfortingly. Minghao laid down on Mingyu’s other side, giving Mingyu a silly face that brought a smile to Mingyu’s face as Jeonghan kept talking. 

Yeah, Wonwoo giving him any romantic attention tomorrow may not be guaranteed, and Mingyu would take it as a plus if it was, but for now, he had amazing friends and he was okay with that. More than okay. 

No matter what went down tomorrow in the chaotic atmosphere of the festively decorated Gryffindor common room- no matter what, Mingyu would still be grateful for the love that surrounded him this holiday season.

But he still fell asleep somewhere in the middle of Jeonghan’s long storytelling, as Seokmin laughed along to whatever Jeonghan was saying, as Minghao interrupted to deliver a sardonic comment- Mingyu still fell asleep thinking of a certain lean, dark haired youth and wishing on Christmas magic that tomorrow he’d finally be able to call Jeon Wonwoo his. 

☾

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaand here’s stave v!!!
> 
> if you haven’t realized yet i’m timing the staves with the actual dates in the story (today’s the 23 in the story and real life, tomorrow is gonna be christmas eve in both real life and the story XD) 
> 
> who is excited for the party!! i know this chapter got a bit angsty but hey i gotta balance out the fluff somewhere hehe
> 
> also i’m aware there’s a lot of dormitory crashing going on in this story, and just wanted to mention that i hope in the future hogwarts kinda evolved to a place where students of all houses feel welcome everywhere!! part of the reason why i made students from all the houses friends XDD 
> 
> please leave your thoughts they really really touch me and make me grateful and most of the time they make me laugh too (i saw someone saying minghao sounded like a salesman in the last chapter and cackled) 
> 
> thank you so much for reading,,, this has been amazing and i cant believe that there’s only one chapter left!! 
> 
> predictions on junhuis plan or the bauble decorations or what haoseok bought ??? drop them pls hehe!! 
> 
> happy holidays <3  
> -mingyuwu


	6. STAVE VI. The End of It, Or, At The Stroke Of Midnight

Mingyu woke up as a pillow hit his face.

“Get up!” Minghao exclaimed, smacking him with the pillow again. “We’re going to be late to breakfast, this is why I never let you two sleep over-”

Mingyu tried to make sense of where exactly he was, then remembered.

He sat up, dried cucumber falling into his lap. “The party’s today!”

“Yes, it’s today, but we have school first,” Minghao said, exasperated, reaching over and shoving Seokmin off the bed.

Seokmin hit the floor yelling.

“Get up! Go and get that cucumber off your face!” Minghao tossed a pillow at Seokmin too, and Mingyu’s vision finally cleared enough to realize that Minghao was already fully dressed and ready.

Mingyu and Seokmin, temporarily having forgotten that they possessed magic, rushed to the bathroom and began washing the cucumber off their faces.

“Idiots,” Minghao grumbled, appearing behind them in the bathroom mirror and pointing his wand at their heads. “There. You’re all done.”

“Thanks, Hao,” Mingyu said gratefully. “We should hurry, we’ve got our uniforms and bags in our dormitories-”

“I Summoned them for you two,” Minghao said with an air of weary patience, folding them into Mingyu’s hands and handing Seokmin’s to the latter. “Come on, let’s go.”

“What on earth would we do without him?” Seokmin laughed, already changing. “Come on, Gyu, we gotta hurry.”

By the time the trio arrived at the Great Hall, the air was thick with holiday cheer, everyone wearing santa hats to replace their usual ones. Even the ghosts were dressed in their festive best, and the tables were laden in breakfasts themed only of white and red. The trees were decorated possibly more than they’d been yesterday, and twinkling snow drifted down from the ceiling, holiday music playing somewhere over the chatter of excited students- today was the last day of term and by noon today everyone would be free.

“Oh, please, Hao, just this once,” Mingyu begged the shorter boy, barely waiting for Minghao’s reluctant nod to transform their hats to match everyone else’s as they moved into the hall.

“Come sit at my table today,” Seokmin whined, dragging them to the Hufflepuff table, where Junhui was already cutting into a peppermint bread. 

“Merry Christmas Eve, you three!” Junhui beamed at them, gesturing them to sit. “Here, try this pastry, it’s so good!”

Mingyu obliged before Junhui shoved the pastry into his mouth, deciding that he didn’t want to get frosting on his cloak before class. 

“Oh, shit,” Seokmin said, staring at the front of the hall where several students were assembling.

“Isn’t that your choir?” Minghao asked. “Didn’t you say you had a Christmas medley performance at breakfast on the last day of term? Look, Soonyoung and Seungkwan are up there too.”

“Oh,  _ shit _ !” Seokmin leapt up and hurtled down the aisle between the tables to join his friends before they started. Minghao laughed, cutting into the peppermint bread that Jun was proffering him. 

“Are you ready for the big party tonight?” Junhui asked. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Minghao sighed, nibbling delicately on the bread. 

“Debating not coming,” Mingyu mumbled.

“I know I didn’t hear that,” came a voice from above him, and he turned around to find a frowning Joshua behind him. The latter had walked over from the Ravenclaw table, and was now staring down at Mingyu, arms folded in a pose that was scarily reminiscent of Jeonghan.

“I’m joking,” Mingyu lied. “What’s up?”

“Well…” Joshua exhaled. “There’s kind of a big problem.”   
“Yes?”

“Like… really big problem. We need you to save the day. Cheol and I.”

“Something got screwed up and you’re trying to hide it from Han,” Mingyu translated, standing up to move away from the others. “What happened?”

“You’ll help?”   
“Depends on what it is.” 

“Okay. Come over here, outside the hall, Cheol’s distracting Han so I can talk to you.”   
Joshua looked frantic, so Mingyu allowed himself to be dragged outside the great double doors, moving slightly aside to allow students into the Great Hall.

Joshua leaned against the nearest pillar. “So you know how we’re supposed to get catering from the Cinnabon in Hogsmeade for tonight?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was being a complete dolt while finalizing the order yesterday and I accidentally put it down for the 25th, because I was thinking Christmas and all, and forgot the event is a Christmas  _ Eve _ party. Problem is, it’s such a big order that there’s no way they can rush it to be done by tonight at 7:30 for the party.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Mingyu asked slowly. He had an inkling where this was going.

“Well… you’re good at baking right?”

“Shua hyung…”

Joshua grabbed Mingyu by the shoulders, looking desperate. “Jeonghan has been manhandling the planning of this party all week and he’s going to lose it if one detail is out of place. Even though he hates cinnamon rolls to the core, they’re part of tonight’s aesthetic now and they need to be delivered, like absolutely need to be there. He is going to strangle me if they’re not present.”

“I don’t know how to make cinnamon rolls!”

“Well, you’re the only option I’ve got! I’m Head Boy, I can give you access to the student culinary labs after school today! School ends at 12 and you’ve got until 7:30, surely that’s enough time?”

“I’ve got other things to do, though! I have to help Minghao with the final processes of the Felix Felicis…”

“Honey, if that potion’s good, it’ll stay good, and if it’s ruined already there’s nothing you can do even in seven hours to save it. Please help me, please!”

Mingyu sighed. 

Now he really had no way to get out of the party.

But he couldn’t leave Joshua like this.

“Fine,” he mumbled. “I guess I can help out.”

“Thank you Gyu, oh thank you,” Joshua breathed, hugging him tightly. “Okay! You three can get to the party by around 7:15, fifteen minutes early, say you want to help set up, and then I’ll casually tell you to run down to Hogsmeade and pick up the catering order and you can go and get the stuff from the culinary lab and… I don’t know, Minghao’s pretty good at art, right? He can draw the Cinnabon trademark on some white boxes and, combined with your baking skills, it’ll be passable?”

“Okay.” Mingyu sighed again. “Great.”

What exactly was he getting himself into?

❆

“Maybe I shouldn’t go,” Wonwoo mumbled. 

“What?” Soonyoung snapped, glancing up from the rabbit he was supposed to be Reappearing. “What do you mean, shouldn’t go?”

“Shut up, she’s coming our way,” Jihoon muttered, staring at the space where the rabbit was supposed to appear.

Professor McGonagall swept by their table, and Wonwoo likewise kept his eyes on the empty desk.

Unfortunately, McGonagall stopped right above them, waiting rather sternly. 

Soonyoung glanced up at her, trying for a friendly, winning smile. “Good morning, Professor! I like your hat.”

“Let’s see that nonverbal Reappearance, Mr. Kwon,” Professor McGonagall answered sharply. 

“Right,” Soonyoung said nervously as his attempt to stall for time failed, swishing his wand through the air and screwing up his face in concentration.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, swished his wand under the desk as he pictured the spell in his mind, and the frightened bunny plopped onto the table, instantly scooped up by a proud Soonyoung, who evidently thought he was the one responsible for the Reappearance.

Professor McGonagall gave Wonwoo a look indicating she knew what he’d just done. “Mr. Kwon, I’m glad that Mr. Jeon is here to help you for today’s lesson, but I want you to practice these a little more for your NEWTS coming up. I doubt you two will be seated together for that.”

Soonyoung blinked up at Professor McGonagall, nodding slowly, still not having understood the situation. Jihoon was biting his lip to keep from laughing. 

“But I’ll let it go for today, seeing as you two are no doubt excited for the holidays,” Professor McGonagall said gently, a wry smile on her lips. “I expect you’ll redeem yourself with a good performance in the January match against Slytherin, Mr. Kwon?”

The Quidditch Captain nodded confidently at his Head of House. “We’ve been working really hard, Professor.”

The bell rang then, releasing them from the thirty-minute class period that each teacher was holding today. There were usually six classes in a school day, each one being an hour and thirty minutes (with the exception of the occasional horror of three hour double Potions twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays). Since schedules were shortened today, class duration had been cut dramatically- and as a bonus, Snape wouldn’t be able to hold them for more than an hour today, even with it being Double Potions day. 

Wishing the professor a good holiday, Wonwoo, Jihoon and Soonyoung left the snow rabbit in the box at the front of the classroom and, shouldering their bags, headed out of fifth period.

“What were we talking about?” Jihoon asked lightly, glaring at someone who shoved past them and sent the smaller boy nearly flying. “Can’t people have some respect?”

“Wonwoo was declaring he wouldn’t go somewhere. Shouldn’t go where?” Soonyoung prodded, now that they were caught in the traffic of the bustling students. “Oh, fuck-”

Soonyoung grabbed Wonwoo and Jihoon by the ties, effectively damn near choking them as he tugged them down, ducking likewise as Peeves sailed overhead, dropping snowballs on unsuspecting students.

“Thanks,” Wonwoo coughed, massaging his neck as he straightened, glancing pityingly at a straggle of confused and snow-drenched first years. “And I meant I shouldn't go to the party. You know, the big one tonight.”

“What?” Jihoon exclaimed. “But Hansol said he’ll come and wear a suggestive ugly Christmas sweater!”

“What- no,” Wonwoo sighed. “I mean, it’s- that’s something I’d really love to see, but… I don’t know. After what happened yesterday with Mingyu, I don’t know if… I feel like it’d be rude…”

“But Won-” Soonyoung began. 

“Look, even if he doesn’t like me, that’s not exactly a nice thing to say about someone. You don’t just list all the reasons you don’t want to be with someone.”

“You didn’t really list a bunch of reasons, you know,” Jihoon said testily. “You just said that he wasn’t your type, which is such a lie, because we- Junhui included, and he’s not even here- all know you’re into sporty handsome muscular guys with nice smiles and a playful personality, and you’re lying if you insist that’s not Mingyu. He literally checks every box on that list.”

“Shut up, don’t say his name!” Wonwoo hissed, glancing around them. “And I never told you my ideal type.” He didn’t want to tell them that they were right.

“Ooh, we should make up a code,” Soonyoung crooned. “Like a secret name we can use.”

“Then that really sounds like he’s Wonwoo’s crush,” Jihoon sniggered. 

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. “Let’s go find Junhui, isn’t he out of Charms right now?”

“Look at him, trying to change the subject,” Soonyoung objected. “How shameless of you.”

Junhui met them at the intersection of the two next hallways, falling into step with them as he did every day during the passing period between fourth and fifth period. “Hey. I am starving, I hope there’s something good at lunch. The only bad thing about half-day schedules is that all our classes are before lunch, and you know it just feels so weird to be in fifth period Charms and not have any food in my belly-”

“Wonwoo’s thinking of not going to the big Christmas Eve party tonight,” Soonyoung snitched immediately, interrupting Junhui’s rant. 

Junhui gaped at him, and Wonwoo groaned. “Not you too.”

“But there’ll be booze!”

“Butterbeer isn’t booze, idiot,” Jihoon grumbled. “You can’t get drunk off of it.”

“Apparently if you drink enough-”

“That’s not the point,” Soonyoung cut across. “Junhui. Wonwoo should go, right?”

“We’ll drag him there if he doesn’t.” Junhui confirmed. 

“Hear me out, you haven’t heard my reasons for not going,” Wonwoo sighed. “I just don’t want things to be awkward between me and Mingyu.”

“And why would you care how awkward things are if you’re not even into him?” Jihoon ooed.

“Because I can still take social cues! And it’s not going to be good!”

“Well…” Soonyoung shrugged, then sighed, slumping against Wonwoo’s body as they kept walking. “I want to come up with a good argument, but I’m really hungry. It doesn’t even make sense to be hungry! It’s not even lunchtime on a normal day!”

“I know!” Junhui chimed in from Soonyoung’s other side, the easily distracted pair beginning to rant about the ‘placebo effect’ of not having lunch before fifth period, leaving Jihoon and Wonwoo silently walking side by side.

“You really should come,” Jihoon said, and then raised his voice to console the other two with “Just two more classes and then you’ll eat, pipe down! Hungry pigs.”

Wonwoo sighed. “I just feel like shit. I mean, he might not take it to heart because he’s not into me, but he’s just… you know? I feel like Mingyu’s the kind of person who’s a bit more sensitive to stuff like that and he might be upset. I really don’t want to make anything worse. I’ll just ruin the party for everyone.”

Jihoon glanced over, making sure Junhui and Soonyoung were still lost in their violent schedule diatribe. “Won, don’t do this. You’ll really regret it.”

Wonwoo looked at him, rather surprised. “Are you threatening me?”

“I’m not, but you know what Jeonghan’s gonna do to you if you don’t show up?”

Wonwoo gulped at the thought of that. “You’re right. But still… do you think there’s any way I could skip-”

“You are not skipping,” Jihoon said firmly. “If you want to avoid Mingyu, fine. But don’t create a situation that endangers all four of us.”

“What do you mean?”   
“You think Jeonghan will spare  _ us _ if we let  _ you _ skip?”   
Wonwoo grimaced. “Okay.”

❆

“And you’re telling us you’ve never made these before?” Seokmin said doubtfully, patting his chef’s hat in the mirror.

“I’m pretty sure I can figure it out, this recipe looks legit,” Mingyu replied, glancing at the latter’s reflection. They’d mainly given Seokmin the hat to appease him into helping them panic-bake for tonight’s party.

“You better get going, we only have about seven hours and that’s not enough time if we mess up more than twice, which we probably will,” Minghao called from the other end of the culinary lab, where he was stranded in a pile of cake boxes, armed with only a single blue ink pen as he forged the Cinnabon emblem on them.

“I don’t mess up,” Mingyu replied, earning an ‘ooo’ from Seokmin as he began retrieving the utensils from around the kitchen.

“How can I help, Gyu?” Seokmin cheeped, holding a spatula (?) in one hand and a knife (?!) in the other.

Mingyu spared him a glance. “Um… how about you just look off this sheet and start gathering ingredients, Seok? That’d be a big help.”

“Okay!” Seokmin skipped over to the pantries with the recipe.

Mingyu allowed himself to slip into his thoughts as he mindlessly directed his wand at the oven to preheat it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about tonight. 

Although yesterday had made it pretty clear Wonwoo wasn’t interested, there was still a tiny hopeful spark in his heart that maybe, just maybe, something would change Wonwoo’s mind tonight. He still had a chance, right?

Would it be wrong to still flirt with Wonwoo after the older making it clear that Mingyu wasn’t his type? Was that considered crossing a line? But Mingyu could argue that he hadn’t really heard something meant for him, right? Because Wonwoo hadn’t told him that outright, so didn’t that mean that Wonwoo wouldn’t mind Mingyu being cute with him? Right?  _ Right _ ?

“Um,” Minghao interrupted Mingyu’s thoughts. “Are you intending to set the oven to 520 degrees, or…”

“Oh- OH,” Mingyu realized, and turned the heat down hurriedly. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because I didn’t want to interrupt your existential crisis,” Minghao replied acridly, turning back to his boxes.

Seokmin arrived back at Mingyu’s side, beaming as he handed him all the ingredients. “These are all the correct ones, right?”   
“Yes...” Mingyu said slowly, then eased a container from Seokmin’s hand. “Actually, when you’re making cinnamon rolls, the ingredients usually refer to… cinnamon powder, not… the sticks…”

“We can fix it,” Seokmin said hurriedly, dumping everything else onto the table and grabbing the bottle back, unscrewing the lid.

“Don’t tell me he’s about to blow it up,” Minghao said exasperatedly from across the room, just as Seokmin pointed his wand into the jar and commanded, “ _ reducto _ !”

All three boys dove under the table as not only the cinnamon sticks but the glass jar exploded.

“Well, what did you think would happen when you pointed it at the container too?” Minghao snapped at Seokmin from under his table a few feet away, shielding himself further with the box he’d previously been inscribing into.

“Sorry,” Seokmin whispered. “Maybe we can still Summon the cinnamon bits-”

“We are not feeding people cinnamon powder that’s been on the floor!” Mingyu exclaimed, standing up and surveying the mess. “I’ll just get the actual cinnamon powder from the pantry. Seok, clean this up, please.”

Seokmin, true to his innocent nature, began scooping up glass into his hands.

“ _ Evanesco _ ,” Minghao said tiredly, and the shards and cinnamon fragments disappeared. “You’re a wizard, Seok. Try and remember once in a blue moon.”

“I can’t help it,” Seokmin whined. “Muggle-borns don’t use magic at home! I’m used to cleaning up manually.”

“Maybe we should explode an oven or something, stage all our deaths, and then we won’t have to go to the party,” Mingyu suggested from the pantry.

Seokmin laughed. “You think Jeonghan’s gonna let that fly? He’d drag our dead bodies out of the cemetery and bring us to the venue.”

“And I am not dying before 6:45, because I have to bottle up our Felix Felicis and get it to Snape by 7,” Minghao said sharply. “If one of you kills me in a freak kitchen accident before then, rest assured I’ll come back from the dead, kill you properly, and sink back into my grave.”

Already dreading the next few hours of experimental baking, Mingyu faked a laugh and set about pouring the flour into the bowl, not missing the look of amusement Seokmin and Minghao shared. 

❆

“We’re cutting it fine, it’s 6:45,” Jihoon said sharply, consulting his books again. The Ravenclaw common room was thankfully empty excepting the four best friends and the bubbling Amortentia. 

“Fifteen minutes,” Wonwoo agreed, speaking through the mask he was wearing. All four of them were actually- to block out the fumes of the Amortentia. Wonwoo had insisted. He’d been too nervous about what he’d smell. “Can someone get it into the vial?”

“Soonyoung can do it,” Junhui suggested, adjusting his vest for the party later. They’d all gotten dressed before so they could deliver the potion to Snape and head to the party without delays.

Soonyoung nodded, measuring the Amortentia into the vial and stoppering it. “Okay. Jihoon, Junhui, you two stay back and clean up our potionmaking mess, Wonwoo and I can go give the Potion to Snape.”

The two set out, taking off their masks and barely leaving the Ravenclaw common room when disaster struck.

“Be careful,” Wonwoo was just saying, watching Soonyoung skip along and wondering if maybe he should hold the flask instead-

Soonyoung tripped on the second stair they stepped on, sending him crashing to the floor along with Wonwoo’s precious Amortentia.

“No!” Wonwoo yelled, Soonyoung scrambling away as bright pink shimmery fumes began drifting out of the cracked glass vial. Wonwoo paused to make sure Soonyoung wasn’t too badly scraped up, then realized that his moment of kindness had cost him dearly- the Amortentia’s scent had hit him.

Wonwoo stumbled against the banister, forced to sit down as the smell of lavender and the strong waves of the ocean overwhelmed him.

Where had he smelled that before?

Wonwoo shook his head, standing up quickly and Vanishing the ruined flask, turning on Soonyoung with a jinx ready on his lips for Soonyoung fucking up so badly-

Soonyoung stared back up at him, tears pooling in the other’s eyes, genuine regret in his features. “Oh no, oh no, oh  _ no _ , Won, I’m really sorry, honest, I didn’t mean to-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Wonwoo said hurriedly, bending down to make sure Soonyoung was okay and helping him up. “Let’s go and get a replacement. I’m sure Jihoon’s foreseen something like this and poured an extra out.”

“I really didn’t mean to,” Soonyoung mumbled as they headed back into the common room.

Wonwoo wrapped an arm around his friend, squeezing Soonyoung’s shoulder lightly. “I know, it’s okay.”

“Ah, he’s already broken it,” Jihoon said brightly, holding up the predicted backup vial as Wonwoo and Soonyoung re-entered the Ravenclaw common room. 

“Jihoon prepared it before we dumped the stock out,” Junhui explained. 

“You’re such a godsend,” Wonwoo exhaled, grabbing the replacement from Jihoon. “Okay, let’s go now.”

❆

At 6:45, Seokmin and Minghao left Mingyu in the culinary labs with the third cinnamon roll attempts nearly out of the oven (attempt one had all exploded inside the oven itself, and they’d spent an hour of time cleaning it out seeing as for some reason Vanishing spells refused to work on the stubborn ruined dough. Attempt two had them accidentally switch sugar for salt, which had concluded in them triumphantly biting into what they’d believed to be a perfect result and getting a bitter mouthful). 

Mingyu wished his friends good luck with the Felix Felicis and continued supervising the rolls, which were baking well, a real plus seeing as they didn’t quite have time for another try.

And by 7:10 Seokmin and Minghao were back, grinning like a pair of devils as they shut the door to the culinary room behind them.

“How did it go with Snape?” Mingyu asked, pulling the cinnamon rolls from the oven. “Oh, thank god, they look presentable.”

“Not just presentable, delicious!” Seokmin said happily, and nearly went for one before Minghao slapped his hand out of the way.

“Idiot, they’re fresh out of the oven, you’ll burn yourself. Snape looked happy with the potion, which was kinda surprising because you know joy isn’t really one of his expressions.”

“Oh, good,” Mingyu said, turning to find Minghao clutching something. “What’s that?”

“Well,” Seokmin said theatrically, earning a look of warning from Minghao that Mingyu didn’t catch. “We actually filled two vials with Felix Felicis when we were preparing to turn it in, because someone could jump us on the way to Snape’s office from the resource dungeons and they could take Minghao’s extra credit as they robbed us.”

“And did that happen?” Mingyu prompted.

“No, and now we have a miraculous extra bottle of Felix. And we have an idea what to do with it,” Minghao said, speaking like he was on a broadcast and reading off script (Mingyu didn’t notice this either).

“You should have it, Gyu,” Seokmin completed Minghao’s sentence, which was definitely off-putting, because those two never completed sentences- their tracks of thought were just too different. 

“What do you mean?” Mingyu asked unsurely, glancing at the golden solution sparkling between Minghao’s fingers. “You- you want me to drink it? What for?”

“We want you to have it,” Minghao repeated, pressing the vial into Mingyu’s hands. “It could help you tonight. It’s lucky. It’ll give you luck tonight with Wonwoo.”

“Guys…” Mingyu glanced worriedly between them. “But… and Minghao, I don’t mean this as an insult, I promise- what if we messed it up a little? Couldn’t something bad happen to me?”

Seokmin and Minghao exchanged a look, nodding at each other to speak until Minghao sighed and turned to Mingyu. “Look, you just have to trust me and drink it. I promise it’s safe.”

“I  _ want _ to trust you,” Mingyu said, holding the tiny flask up to the light. “I just don’t want to collapse. Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Yes,” Seokmin repeated emphatically. “Think about it. Don’t you feel a lot better going into tonight armed with this liquid luck coursing through your veins?”

“You sound like you’re trying to sell this to me,” Mingyu laughed. “And actually… if anything happened between me and Wonwoo tonight, I’d want it to be organic. So wouldn’t it be kind of bad if I drank this before?”

“But Mingyu, this isn’t love potion,” Minghao explained. “Just because you drink it, you’re not guaranteed that Wonwoo’s going to fall in love with you tonight or anything. It doesn’t have any sort of manipulative power on Wonwoo, it just makes you luckier.”

Mingyu considered that, flicking the bottle back and forth. “I…”

“Think about it,” Seokmin encouraged. “A few golden hours where chance is on your side.”

Mingyu bit his lip. It did sound tempting. “Is it against any rules?”

“Felix Felicis is only banned for use in sports, examinations, and auditions,” Minghao recited, as if he’d had this answer ready. “You’ve got the green-light to use it for this.”

A smile began to slowly spread on Mingyu’s lips.

“Should I drink it?” he asked, smirking at them.

“Drink it!” Seokmin and Minghao cheered as Mingyu pulled the cork off the top of the vial.

“I love you guys,” Mingyu said breathlessly, tipping his head back and putting the glass rim of the flask to his lips.

He closed his eyes, feeling the exhilaration of the golden luck against his lips, soaking into his throat, into his body. The liquid was sweet and cold yet warm and reassuring at the same time, and tingled against his tongue as it went down. 

“This is the real shit,” Mingyu exhaled against the vial. “Oh, guys, it tastes amazing.”

“Mate, it’s not a Butterbeer advertisement, you can be done now,” Seokmin chuckled. 

Mingyu slowly lowered the flask, his eyes sparkling as he gazed at the other two. “Excellent. Banging excellent.”

Seokmin and Minghao exchanged a victorious look. “Great. Let’s go. Didn’t you say Shua wanted to check in with you at 7:15 and then we’d come back down here to get the cinnamon rolls into the boxes?”

“Oh, fuck,” Mingyu breathed, checking the time. “It’s 7:13. We gotta hightail it.”

_ Luckily _ , they arrived outside the Gryffindor common room by 7:15, panting like hell as they gave the Fat Lady the password.

“Ready?” Minghao asked Mingyu. 

“Ready for what? Wonwoo won’t be here yet, the general audience is arriving at 7:30,” Seokmin asked.

“Not for that,” Mingyu said, having realized what Minghao was referring to as the Fat Lady’s portrait swung open. “Ready for whatever hell Jeonghan made out of my common room.”

On the last day of term before Christmas, the entire student body of Hogwarts was known to sacrifice all values and ideals and go insane with parties- therefore this was the one day of the year that curfews were lifted and students were allowed to use any room of the school to throw parties- with the simple rules that alcohol and drugs were banned. Teachers usually retreated to their quarters and locked themselves in by eight, and the castle was pretty much shut down and set for the students to lose themselves partying until dawn. 

Because of this, many students deserted the common rooms for the larger dungeons and even the Great Hall. Somehow, this had left the Gryffindor common room as free territory, which Seungcheol seemed to have taken possession of for the night, perhaps using his Head Boy privilege to claim ownership of the intimate yet spacious area. 

Intimate yet spacious area that Seungcheol had let his boyfriend decorate.

Mingyu choked upon seeing what Jeonghan had done to the common room, Minghao sinking to the floor with his laughter, Seokmin leaning against the wall as he covered his eyes, giggling madly.

Jeonghan had draped the walls in fabric tapestries of- well- the unmentionables on his Christmas card from a week prior. And when Jeonghan draped, he  _ draped _ . Every wall was papered- tapestried?- with these lovely illustrations. 

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua were lounging in the couches they’d shoved to form three-fourths of a square facing the fireplace, which was decorated in its own way. 

Over the fireplace, instead of stockings, chocolate figurines had been hung to the mantel, all exact three-dimensional physical replicas of said unmentionable card designs. The tree- for of course there was a wide spruce taking up about a fourth of the room- was covered in glass ball ornaments, with several small things moving inside each one, as well as a multitude of pictures clipped to the lower branches- also too small to see from this distance.

“You guys are here early!” Jeonghan said, having craned his head to the entrance to find the trio losing their shit in the portrait hole. The excited boy sprung up, clapping as he rushed over to drag them inside. “Come in, have some hot cocoa!”

Joshua was giving Mingyu frantic looks from behind Jeonghan, and Mingyu appeased Joshua’s panic with a simple nod and a thumbs up as Jeonghan led them to the table that they’d put between the couches. Joshua literally melted back onto the couch with relief, clasping his hands in thankful prayer and mouthing ‘ _ I owe you one _ ’ to Mingyu.

“You owe me like, five dozen, because that’s the count of the rolls we baked,” Mingyu hissed to Joshua as Jeonghan pulled Minghao and Seokmin over to the tree to show them something. “Seungcheol, what’s up with you?”

Seungcheol grunted in reply, looking irritable as he rubbed at his shoulder.

“Pulled something while putting up the worms for Jeonghan,” Joshua explained.

“Worms?” Mingyu asked concernedly.

“ _ Worms _ !” Seokmin screeched, and Mingyu glanced over to see the Hufflepuff leaping away from the tree. “Oh my god, they’re worms!”

Mingyu looked over, and then stood up and walked around the couches to get a better look. “What exactly do you mean- oh. Oh.”

Each glass bauble was the home of a pair of worms, painted green and bearing a tiny santa hat, dancing and wriggling happily as fake snow fell to the bottom of the bauble then magically moved to the top only to fall once again. 

“What… why?” Minghao asked, staring at the worms.

Jeonghan shrugged. “They’re not in pain or being held against their will. They’re just Flobberworms I borrowed from Hagrid. Worms are pretty close to snakes, so I managed to communicate with them in Parseltongue and convince them to do this favor for me. They’ve been fed well and the paint is non-toxic- Shua helped me find some in Hogsmeade- and do you like the hats? I had Chan practice his Charms homework on them and make them small to fit the little Flobberworm heads.” Jeonghan affectionately poked one bauble, causing one worm inside to squeal with joy as it rolled over to nestle against his finger from the other side of the glass. “They’re quite cute, really. And they like me, so I like them. I would’ve brought real snakes, I mean, you know my snake garden back at home, but I couldn’t pick which ones I wanted and my mother advised I might frighten people, so I decided worms were a more friendly option.” Jeonghan sighed, still tapping his finger against the bauble as the worm’s mate came to join against his finger. “Pity. I really wanted you guys to meet Lucie and Maisie and Ellie and Vera. Those are my boas. Boa constrictors, you know. Sweetest things. Vera used to be my nap buddy when I was little.”

Mingyu didn’t want to waste brain cells on wondering why Jeonghan had picked such cutesy names for his nap-buddy killer snakes, so he merely continued studying the bauble nearest. 

“Worms,” Seokmin shivered, picking himself up from the carpet where he’d flung himself in his horror. “Absolutely not. No, no, no.”

Minghao let out a groan of distress, having sank to the bottom of the tree and now holding a picture- the ones that’d been too small to see before. “Jeonghan,  _ why _ ?”

Mingyu squinted and found the picture to be a polaroid- all the ones here were- of Minghao cheesing at the camera, his fingers folded into peace signs that the stoic boy would certainly never do willingly. 

“Ooh, those,” Jeonghan beamed. “They’re blackmail pictures of all of us!”

“What?” Mingyu hissed, bending down to scan the branches until he found a picture of himself. “Oh my god! I told Seokmin that picture of me in a lobster costume could never get out!”

“I didn’t give it to him!” Seokmin protested.

“I raided everyone’s things,” Jeonghan said as if it was no big deal. “Ooh, Seokmin, here’s one of you half-naked with that candelabra on your head, hmm-”

“Where are  _ yours _ ?” Mingyu questioned, eyes narrowed as his gaze swept over the branches.

Jeonghan blinked innocently. “I couldn’t find any of myself. Boo-hoo.”

“Ass,” Mingyu muttered, then softened as his eyes landed on a picture of a passed out Wonwoo, no doubt taken by Soonyoung. That was cute.

Focus, Mingyu, focus. There was no time to get lost in his Jeon Wonwoo spiral. 

Mingyu found a picture of himself sleeping next to a cackling Minghao, and frowned as he snatched it off the tree, planning to toss it into the fire as soon as he could. Wonwoo looked cute asleep, and was the only person on earth that could. 

Although he privately wondered if Wonwoo would’ve found Mingyu’s picture just as cute as Mingyu had thought Wonwoo’s was.

“Oh, you guys,” Joshua called over from the couch, his voice rather loud and staged. “I need to get the catering from Hogsmeade.”

“No, Shua, you’ve worked so hard already,” Seungcheol swept in with, and it was obvious that they’d practiced these lines. “Could you three be sweethearts and rush down and get it for your favorite hyungs?”

“Yes, of course,” the three recited dully, all giving Joshua and Seungcheol killer glares when Jeonghan wasn’t looking. Joshua should’ve at least made his performance convincing. Anybody who knew him knew that he would never use the word ‘sweetheart’. Luckily, Jeonghan was busy admiring his worms, and didn’t notice how absolutely trash the other two’s acting was.

Mingyu was not missing all these little ‘luckily’ moments. The Felix Felicis was working well, and he could feel it even now, nervous yet confident about later. 

“We’ll just be a few minutes, I guess we’ll get here by the time everyone’s here,” Mingyu assured the oldest three, pulling off his jumper and tossing it onto a couch. “See you all soon.”

“Thanks,” Joshua called after them, and they hurried from the common room.

❆

“Did you guys smell anything from the Amortentia, though?” Junhui asked as they made their way up the staircase. 

Wonwoo shrugged. “Nothing important.”   
“I smelled parchment and ink and… rice,” Soonyoung said slowly.

Wonwoo noticed Jihoon staring at the floor, and wondered what that was about, his curiosity expounding as Jihoon sent Soonyoung a glare when he thought nobody was looking, Soonyoung responding with a wink.

“No, but seriously Wonwoo,” Junhui pressed minutes later, when they had turned in the potion safely and were standing outside the Gryffindor common room, holding the slip of parchment that Seungcheol had written out the password on. “What did you smell?”   
Wonwoo laughed nervously as Jihoon gave the password to the Fat Lady. “Seriously, it’s nothing.”

The portrait hole swung open and Wonwoo realized that the smell was certainly not nothing.

It was  _ everywhere _ . 

Wonwoo nearly fell over.

Wonwoo realized seconds later that he’d actually fallen over and Soonyoung was holding him upright. “Mate, are you okay?”   
“Maybe the Amortentia fumes were toxic and it’s hitting now,” Jihoon said shrewdly, inspecting Wonwoo.

“Maybe it’s the decorations?” Junhui said, looking into the common room as Seungcheol got up to welcome them in. “God, who let Jeonghan go feral in here?”

“That would be me,” Joshua said, having walked over with Seungcheol. “Hey, guys. The fifth years are out getting our catering. Wonwoo, are you okay?”   
“Yeah, fine,” Wonwoo said, aware of how strangled his voice was.

“Give us a moment with Wonwoo,” Jihoon said as Seungcheol dragged Junhui over to look at something on the tree. 

“Where’s Jeonghan?” Soonyoung asked, still holding onto Wonwoo.

Joshua pointed over to one of the sofas, where Jeonghan was curled up fast asleep under what looked to be Seungcheol’s sweater. “He knocked himself out after fluttering around all evening. If anyone wakes him up before the party starts we’re going to kill them.”

“Han needs his naps, you know,” Seungcheol explained, adjusting the tree slightly and stepping back to take a look at it. “Or he really gets cranky with us.”

Joshua meandered over to help Seungcheol with the tree, where Junhui was excitedly holding up a bauble with something in it and shaking it, Seungcheol trying to restrain him. 

Wonwoo was left sandwiched between Soonyoung and Jihoon, who were both supporting him up at this point.

“Seriously, what’s your problem?” Jihoon asked.

“What is that smell?” Wonwoo said breathlessly. “That fucking amazing smell.”

“What smell?” Soonyoung sniffed. “All I smell is rice? I think I’m still high off the-”   
“There’s no rice here,” Jihoon said, glaring pointedly at Soonyoung. 

“No, no, the lavender…” Wonwoo blinked around him, as if the answer would just appear. “I swear, it’s like…”

“Isn’t that the smell of Mingyu’s cologne?” Soonyoung asked.

Wonwoo’s eyes widened. “No.”

Except every single cell in his body was screaming yes.

“It is!” Jihoon shook Wonwoo excitedly. “Did you smell Mingyu’s cologne from the Amortentia?”

“No!” Wonwoo repeated.

Except that was another lie, because as he realized it now…

“Oh my god,” Soonyoung nearly shrieked. “You’re in love with Mingyu!”

“ _ No! _ ” Wonwoo repeated again.

“Yes you are!” Jihoon exclaimed. “You’re in love with him!”

Wonwoo felt like he was going to faint. “But he’s not here? How can I be in love with him if he’s not even here but I can smell him? Maybe I’m just hallucinating with the Amortentia-”   
Soonyoung pointed at the sweater covering Jeonghan that Wonwoo had previously identified as Seungcheol’s. “Mingyu  _ was _ here, and very recently, it looks like.”

“Oh my god,” Wonwoo muttered. “I’m…”

That was exactly what the scent had been. And he’d pinpointed it so exactly that he’d even recognized it over all the other smells in the room. Or maybe the Amortentia’s vapor had just given him temporary heightened receptiveness to the scent that he was apparently in love with- that belonged to the person he was in love with? How long would that last? And Mingyu wasn’t even here yet, just his sweater was. Would Wonwoo end up collapsing when Mingyu arrived, too overcome by the latter’s scent? That would be horribly embarrassing and sounded creepily like something out of an omegaverse fic like the ones Wonwoo’s little sister liked to read on the internet back at home. No way. 

“It’s not like the Amortentia made you fall in love with him,” Jihoon said comfortingly. “You’re just… it’s the vapor affecting you, is all. For it to be the love potion’s fault would mean you’d have to actually drink the stuff.” Jihoon clapped his back. “Well, next time you see Snape make sure you thank him for assigning an extra credit opportunity that gave you a slap of reality.”

_ You will find the love of your life at my Christmas Eve party. _

_ By the stroke of midnight, something very interesting will happen that will change your life for quite a long time.  _

Wasn’t that why Wonwoo had still come tonight? Because he was hoping Mingyu loved him back? Even knowing what he knew about Jeonghan’s faulty tarot skills- he’d still put faith in just the words Jeonghan had said to him, wishing that he could make those nonsense predictions come true.

And they apparently had, as Wonwoo inhaled again and was hit once more with the nostalgia of Mingyu’s scarf wrapping around his shoulders, the scent heavy around him. 

There was no doubting it now. 

And it was the understanding that he, Jeon Wonwoo, had actually fallen in love with Kim Mingyu, that sent Wonwoo finally to his knees just as the portrait hole opened behind him and he was completely, totally overwhelmed with the scent. 

“What’s wrong with Wonwoo?” came Mingyu’s worried voice.

“Oh god, the  _ scent _ ,” Wonwoo mumbled, luckily Mingyu not hearing as he rushed to Wonwoo’s side. Great. Now this really was an omegaverse fic. Damn Potions, damn Snape, damn it all.

“Are you okay?” Mingyu brushed Wonwoo’s hair out of his face. “Why are you on the floor? I’m usually the one on the floor.”

“I’m fine,” Wonwoo panted, fully aware that Minghao, Seokmin, Jihoon, and Soonyoung were all staring at them. He was so out of it that he didn’t even recognize one of his favorite smells in the world- cinnamon rolls, evidently coming from the many boxes floating along behind Minghao.

“Come here, sit down. We’ve brought the food, maybe you should eat.” Mingyu helped Wonwoo stand, leading him to the couch opposite Jeonghan’s dozing form and helping him onto the cushions. “Wow, it’s not even 8 PM and Jeonghan hyung’s already asleep?”

“Shh,” Joshua hissed over by the tree. “Don’t wake him.”

“Is it because you care about his sleep or you just want some peace for a few minutes?” Jihoon chuckled. 

Joshua made a face that indicated he chose both answers. 

“That’s so cute,” Seokmin said, coming to stand behind them as Minghao put down the Cinnabon onto the table. “He spends all day preparing for the party and passes out right before it starts-”

“The festivities have arrived, let the party beeeee-gin!” came an ear-shattering whoop from the portrait hole as it banged open, revealing Seungkwan wearing a modified sexy Santa outfit that was definitely very not dress code and extremely exposee. He was flanked on either side by Hansol, who dressed for the occasion with a sweater printed with the words ‘HOE HOE HOE’ and a reindeer holding several vodka bottles displayed on it- the shocking contrast to the sweet one he’d worn at the start of this week. Chan was thankfully clothed in something appropriate and surprisingly endearing- a reindeer onesie that had everyone but Wonwoo and his three best friends bursting into laughter. 

“I can talk this time!” Chan said happily, causing the roar of laughter to only increase.

“I hate not getting the joke,” Soonyoung said, flopping onto the couch next to Wonwoo as Jeonghan startled awake on the opposite sofa, looking shocked to find himself waking up to everyone laughing so raucously (Jeonghan usually woke up if someone breathed next to him). 

“What? What’s going on? Has the party started?” Jeonghan said frantically, leaping up onto the couch to get a better view of the whole room, which only started laughing harder at his reaction.

“We didn’t just come with laughter for everyone!” Seungkwan added with flair, Hansol throwing golden glitter as Chan dragged out a crate from the other side of the portrait hole, bringing it inside and slamming the door shut to signify the start of the party. “Father Boo brought… the booze!”

“Wizard booze!” Junhui shouted excitedly, Minghao clamping his hand over the latter’s mouth.

“Shut up, you want a teacher to come in here? If they hear us screaming about alcohol-”

“Who cares, we’ll drink it all before they get here,” Soonyoung grinned, flipping backwards off the couch to run to the crate. 

“It’s not real booze!” Jihoon, Joshua, and Wonwoo said exasperatedly as everyone else flocked around the Butterbeer crate.

Mingyu remained next to Wonwoo, taking the Butterbeer that Seokmin brought him and handing it to Wonwoo as soon as he managed to uncap it. “Here, you drink some. Scared the hell out of me, I just walked inside and you were literally on the floor, you’re pale too…”

“I’m fine. My legs just gave out for one second, is all, I’ve been tired this whole week,” Wonwoo fibbed, taking a sip of the Butterbeer. “Did you guys turn your potion in?”

“Yeah, Minghao did, apparently Snape had a good reaction to it, so,” Mingyu shrugged, accepting the bottle from Wonwoo and drinking from it like it was nothing.

Wonwoo was still lost in the steamy clouds of the Amortentia, and couldn’t tear his eyes away from Mingyu’s lips around the bottle. And was it just him or did Mingyu look beyond handsome tonight too, his hair tousled over his forehead in a way that probably hadn’t even taken an ounce of effort but still looked spectacular. Even being dressed in a casual tee and jeans, Mingyu managed to keep Wonwoo’s attention on him, but at the same time the outfit wasn’t that simple, because that shirt was made of some light cotton material that highlighted all of his muscles, and if Wonwoo looked close enough (which he wasn’t) he could make out the lines of Mingyu’s toned abs underneath the fabric, and he wasn’t even going to try looking beneath Mingyu’s waist because he’d done that a few seconds ago and his mind was clearly not in the right place with that sip of Butterbeer and the Amortentia vapor. 

Mingyu continued sipping from the drink, sprawled on the corner of the couch in front of him like a five-course meal, every inch of him making Wonwoo want to fall forward into his arms and never get up again. Even Mingyu’s gaze was dangerous tonight, it felt like the younger knew exactly the effect he was having on Wonwoo and was relishing it, watching Wonwoo with satisfaction even as he raised the bottle to his lips again.

Wonwoo opened his mouth to speak-

“You don’t have to apologize,” Mingyu said before Wonwoo could say a word.

Fuck. Had Mingyu’s voice always sounded that rough and deep?

“What?” Wonwoo said, because he couldn’t trust himself to say anything more without flinging himself at Mingyu.

Because suddenly Wonwoo found every particle of his body burning with some kind of desire that had barely come to the surface in his seventeen years of life. He wanted to projectile-launch himself onto Mingyu’s lap and kiss him so hard that he would leave the other gasping for air, he wanted to run his hands through Mingyu’s hair and down his chest and-

Wonwoo was smacked in the face with a mass of warm cloth that possessed a smell exactly identical to the sweet scent of the Amortentia. 

“Give that to Mingyu,” came a cold voice from the opposite sofa.

Wonwoo blinked, staring at the sweater in his lap and Jeonghan, who was glaring angrily at him. “Did you just throw this at me?”

“Give it to Mingyu,” was all that Jeonghan repeated irritably, giving Wonwoo another icy look before getting up and flouncing over to where Seungkwan and Hansol were cooing over the worms.

Wonwoo shook his head, confused, as he reluctantly passed the sweater to Mingyu. “Don’t know why he couldn’t’ve just handed it to you, it’s like he wanted to toss something at my face…”

Mingyu winced, and even that looked hot. “I don’t know either.”

Wonwoo really, really wanted to be given that sweater for the night, and Mingyu knew it, and Wonwoo knew that Mingyu knew.

Wonwoo made eye contact with Mingyu and looked away.

“Anyway, I don’t want you to apologize for the stuff I heard yesterday,” Mingyu said casually. “I mean, I’m not taking it as an insult or anything, and if you apologize it’ll be kinda weird all night. So let’s just forget about it, yeah?”

But Wonwoo  _ wanted _ to apologize. 

He wanted to tell Mingyu that he was sorry, and that he didn’t really mean it, and that he actually really, really didn’t mean it because even though he’d said all that yesterday, he still couldn’t believe his own words because he was so impossibly, foolishly, in love with Mingyu.

So Wonwoo merely stared helplessly at Mingyu and nodded.

“You think I should wear this?” Mingyu added, lifting up the sweater, but Wonwoo wasn’t watching that, instead his eyes were drawn to the way the bicep in Mingyu’s arm just contracted so easily with such a simple motion-

“It’s hot in here, you look better without, you’re hot,” Wonwoo said, and the words had escaped his lips before he could do a thing.

But maybe it was just the intoxication of the vapor, because Wonwoo didn’t really care that he’d said it. 

A slow smirk spread on Mingyu’s lips. “Oh, I know I’m hot, but thanks for the affirmation. Anyway, here, you should wear it. You get cold easily.”

And with that, the sweater was in Wonwoo’s arms again and he’d never felt better.

❆

Ooh, Mingyu was enjoying this.

After leaving Wonwoo speechless and red-faced on the couch, he meandered over to where Minghao was helping Chan plate the cinnamon rolls to pass out to everyone.

“Good news,” Mingyu said, taking another swill of Butterbeer as he leaned in so nobody but Minghao could hear. “The Felix Felicis is working so well. I feel super confident, and I’ve already made him blush a lot.”

“What game plan are you going for, exactly?” Minghao asked, for some reason looking amused.

“Just full out fluster him until he loses it and kisses me. Or I lose it and kiss him,” Mingyu shrugged, taking another sip. “We’ll see, we have until midnight.”

“Let’s all come and eat to start the night!” Jeonghan called, and everyone congregated around the couches, dropping onto the cushions or the arms, the space not taken up on the floor soon filled up by the still-playful younger ones who didn’t mind romping around on the carpet (except for Chan, who declined sitting in Jeonghan’s lap and ended up reluctantly half on it anyway).

Mingyu found himself sequestered between Soonyoung and Seokmin on the floor, his back resting against Seungcheol’s legs from where the older lounged on the couch. They’d dragged the table out of the way so everyone, including the people on the floor, could see each other properly. There were two couches facing each other, with the third touching the latter two at each end and facing the fireplace, which was the end left open for people to move around and leave the sitting area.

This was a great spot to sit, actually, because firstly, Soonyoung was the loudest person here and was drawing everyone’s attention for the duration of the time they ate. This was good because that meant every time Wonwoo- who was sitting between Jeonghan and Chan’s mess and Jihoon on the couch opposite the fireplace and to Mingyu’s left- slid his eyes over to look at Soonyoung, he ended up looking at Mingyu. Perfect. 

The other great part about sitting here was the fact that Mingyu was fully established as Seungcheol’s baby, no matter how much taller than the older boy he got, so he was being treated to a lovely hair-stroking session that he was enjoying not just because Seungcheol was just the sweetest almost-older-brother ever, but because that was another thing to keep Wonwoo glancing his way. Mingyu wondered if Wonwoo was perhaps jealous of Seungcheol’s position. He hoped so. There was already a plan in his head to subtly move over to the empty space underneath Wonwoo.

Mingyu, now under the influence of the Felix Felicis, realized that there was absolutely no reason to believe that Jeon Wonwoo was not into him. If Wonwoo seriously had no interest after everything that’d happened between them this week, then he probably had a heart of stone or something.

“What should we play?” Hansol piped up, the younger boy’s head resting on Mingyu’s stomach with his legs stretched across the empty space of carpet, feet in Seungkwan’s lap across the space. Mingyu was, just as Seungcheol was to him, giving Hansol a prompt head patting as Seungkwan gave the light haired boy a foot massage. Hansol was getting pampered so much tonight.

“How about Never Have I Ever?” Seokmin suggested a game that Mingyu had never heard before, causing Jihoon, Seungcheol, and Junhui to burst into laughter as they clapped excitedly, the others staring at each other blankly.

“Okay, can one of you four Muggle-borns please explain?” Wonwoo asked.

“So, it’s like this game,” Seungcheol chuckled, “Where you put up your hands with all ten fingers up. And people go around and list things… you’ll see when the game starts. And if you have done the action, you have to truthfully put one finger down. Whoever has the most fingers left up by the time we’re done is the winner.”

“But there’s a wizard version,” Jihoon said, drawing something out of his pocket. “And I had a feeling we’d play it, so I brought this.” He uncurled his fingers to reveal a small blue stag beetle in his hands.

Seokmin screeched but Mingyu pinned him back down onto the floor. 

“It’s not real,” Jihoon said exasperatedly. “It’s just a plastic model. But it’s a truth-bug. It’ll sit here on the table and if anyone’s lying it’ll come bite you.”

“I won’t tell a single lie, just keep that thing away from me,” Seokmin said seriously, practically half-hidden in Mingyu’s side. 

The bug was placed on the table, where it sat and stared at all of them. The room was quiet with tension, the stakes now raised high. 

“I’ll start, to show you guys how it works,” Jihoon said. “Never have I ever… started a fire.”

Wonwoo slowly put a finger down.

“And I called him on it,” Jihoon snickered.

“Pasta is hard to make!” Wonwoo glared. “Sometimes the stove goes up in flames, okay?”

“Alright, my turn now,” Jeonghan said bossily, sitting up slightly. “Never have I ever… cheated on someone since exactly September 29th of last year.”

Everyone stole glances at each other, but no fingers moved.

“Nice, I’m proud of you guys,” Jeonghan said, satisfied after having checked Joshua’s and Seungcheol’s hands. “Okay, we can just go clockwise from me.”

“Alright, I’m next then,” Junhui said from the couch opposite Mingyu. “Never have I ever… had a one night stand.”

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Soonyoung put a finger down.

“You?” Wonwoo asked Soonyoung doubtfully.

“Oh yeah,” Soonyoung winked. “I’m in high demand.”

“Okay, my turn,” Minghao quickly cut Soonyoung off, still leaning onto Junhui’s body. “Never have I ever laughed so hard I’ve peed my pants, after coming to Hogwarts.”

The room was silent.

Junhui, red faced, put one finger down. 

Seokmin screamed bloody murder as the bug flew at his face. “Okay okay okay- I just was testing out the bug is all!” He hurriedly put down one finger before the bug managed to reach him.

“So we’ve confirmed the bug works,” Joshua said dryly. “Who’s next?”

“Me!” Seungkwan said from the floor. “Never have I ever eaten an entire pizza by myself.”

“That’s just mean,” Hansol mumbled, putting a finger down as Mingyu and Soonyoung mirrored him. “I told you that was a secret.”   
“There are no secrets here, Chwe,” Seungkwan said sweetly, baring his teeth at his friend. 

“Well, now it’s my turn,” Hansol grinned back, sitting up from Mingyu’s lap. “Never have I ever pretended I was sick to get attention.”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes and put one finger down as Jeonghan and Joshua did the same. 

“Okay, I need to level the playing field,” Joshua said. “Never have I ever pulled an all-nighter.”

One finger went down from every person.

“Never have I ever thrown a drink at someone,” Seungcheol said next, glaring right at Jeonghan.

“You did that to him?” Soonyoung gasped as Jeonghan put a finger down.

“I mean, what else was I going to throw? I had a Potions knife in one hand and my strawberry acai in another, did you want me to kill Seungcheol during study hall?”   
“What is wrong with you people?” Seokmin said, sitting up. “Never have I ever… asked someone to pet their dog while they were walking by with it.”

Everyone laughed at Seokmin’s innocence as most people in the circle put a finger down. 

“Here comes the Hufflepuff,” Minghao rolled his eyes, triumphantly keeping his fingers in the same position. “I don’t touch other people’s pets. They’re nasty and I don’t know where they’ve been. Especially dogs.”   
“But you’re friends with Mingyu?” Wonwoo asked, and everyone burst into laughter as Mingyu stuck his tongue out at the older boy and put a finger down, pushing down Seokmin’s too. 

“I don’t think you’ve understood how the game works,” Mingyu said helpfully. “You’re supposed to say stuff that  _ you’ve _ never done. I think you spend most of your summer vacation petting other people’s animals.”

“It’s your turn, hurry up,” Jeonghan whined.

“Okay, let me think.” Mingyu cast around in his mind for something that he could incriminate everyone else with. “Never have I ever kissed someone.”   
“But like, what are we talking about here?” Jihoon asked seriously. “Like, lips, or what?”

“Lips,” Mingyu nodded in confirmation. 

“You’ve never-” Soonyoung shook his head in disapproval, putting a finger down as did everyone else- everyone except Wonwoo.

“Are you sure you’ve never kissed anyone before?” Jeonghan asked Wonwoo testily.

“My lips are virgins,” Wonwoo replied with a straight face.

Mingyu secretly hoped Wonwoo’s lips wouldn’t be virgins by tonight. 

“Okay, let’s move on, it’s my turn,” Soonyoung said impatiently, bouncing up and down on the floor. “Never have I ever killed someone!”

Everyone swiveled in their spots to look at Jeonghan’s fingers.

“What the fuck?” Jeonghan glared back at everyone. “Just because I like torture and death and hurting people doesn’t mean I’ve actually gone and done the deed! Ask the damn bug!”

All eyes went to the bug, which was staring at Jeonghan doubtfully.

“I swear!”

The bug settled, appeased.

“Okay…” Seungcheol shook his head. “I don’t think we should play anymore.”

“What other party games were there?” Jeonghan asked when the laughter had subsided. “We made a list, right, Shua?”

“Yeah, but then you destroyed it at 5 PM because nothing was good enough,” Joshua replied tiredly. 

“Oh, come on, there’s gotta be more things we can play.”

“How about wizard chess?” Wonwoo asked into the silence.

“But that’s not a party game!” Jeonghan whined. “That’s a boring old-geezer game for Ravenclaws.”

Wonwoo grinned. “Fair. How about  _ Butterbeer _ wizard chess?”

“What’s the difference?” Seungkwan asked interestedly. 

“Every time it’s your turn, you have to take a sip of your Butterbeer. And every time you lose a piece, you have to take as many sips as the number of spaces that your piece was from their starting point.”

“But Butterbeer doesn’t actually make you drunk, so it’s not like you’re gonna get impaired,” Chan objected.

“Yeah, but it makes you giddy as hell and being high on a sugar rush is kinda just as detrimental as being drunk when playing chess,” Junhui pointed out. 

“Okay, we can play one game,” Jeonghan agreed as Hansol disappeared up the boy’s staircase to his dormitory, evidently to retrieve his set. “But if it’s not fun I’m cutting it.”

Joshua rolled his eyes. “Maybe you could take another nap.”

“Or that,” Jeonghan pointed out, already walking over and taking up the remaining space on the couch, snuggling between his two boyfriends.

Hansol returned with his set, putting it down on the table and sweetly clearing away everyone’s plates so there was a clean space to play. 

“Who wants to play?” Seungkwan asked. “I’m absolute ass at chess, so…”

“I’m not in the mood,” Jihoon said.

“Don’t have the mental capacity,” Soonyoung shrugged.

“I never said I’d play,” Chan added.

“I don’t know how,” Seokmin answered truthfully.

“Busy,” Minghao said, cuddling up to Junhui, who looked also occupied.

“Don’t think either of us can move right now,” Seungcheol said for himself and Joshua, 

Wonwoo looked slightly sad that nobody else wanted to play. “Come on, guys, just one round…”

Minghao made eyes at Mingyu while making out with Junhui, glaring at him and then at Wonwoo and back at him.

Mingyu sighed. “Won, I’ll play.”

“Oooh, minwon couple!” Seokmin cheered, bringing the phrase back from a few days ago.

Mingyu glared at him as he crawled over to one side of the table. 

Wonwoo laughed- already sounding a bit too light to focus on the game- and came to sit at the other side of the table. “You’re on.”

Within ten minutes, half of Mingyu’s side of the board was cleared and he was giggling like a lunatic, already through two bottles of Butterbeer. 

Wonwoo was grinning too, not as tipsy but definitely no longer in a crisp state of mind- Mingyu had managed to at least eliminiate a few pieces from Wonwoo’s side.

Everyone around them was completely hype, and even Jeonghan had given up the prospect of sleep to join the chanting ‘Drink! Drink! Drink!’ every time a piece was killed and dragged off the board by the tiny animated figures. 

Mingyu burst into laughter as his knight was smashed into the board, already raising the Butterbeer to his lips. “Yeah!”

“Ten spaces!” Soonyoung bellowed excitedly, already chugging his own Butterbeer. Soonyoung was drinking for both of them, it seemed. 

“Ten spaces!” everyone cheered, and by the time the fog had cleared and Mingyu had made his next move, Wonwoo had seen the opportunity for a checkmate and taken it, and Mingyu’s queen was killed violently before everyone’s eyes.

“What should I do now?” Mingyu yelled, knowing he was pink in the face from the rush of adrenaline the drink was giving him. 

“Drink the whole rest of the bottle!” Everyone started shouting, but Wonwoo stood, quickly helping Mingyu to his feet and taking the bottle away.

“No, no, he doesn’t need any more. He’s had enough for right now.”

“Won, you’re ruining the fun!” Junhui complained.

“No, I’m not. Here, Gyu, sit down, you’ll make a fool out of yourself. Just have some water right now, you can drink more later.” Wonwoo brought him to his couch, giving him the space Jeonghan had left behind as everyone settled back onto their couches, Soonyoung now standing in the center as he threw his head back and finished his own bottle to everyone’s appreciative clapping. 

“Yeah!” Soonyoung yelled happily, shaking the empty bottle. “Let’s fuck shit up!”   
Seungcheol subsided into giggles and Jeonghan clapped a hand to his face, leaving Joshua as the oldest authority. 

Said oldest authority was unfortunately a little shaky on the decision-making aspect right now, seeing as he was pretty hammered from the decent quantity of Butterbeer he’d managed down over the last hour. 

“Let’s do something with that bottle!” Joshua giggled.

“Spin the bottle!” Chan shouted to general uproar, as everyone began cheering for the popular game- teenagers were teenagers, and wizards and Muggles alike always had fascination for games like these. It wasn’t exactly something that needed rules. 

Jeonghan gasped. “Chan, how do you know what-”

“Let’s play the sex version!” Chan cut Jeonghan off.

“No!” Seungcheol, still laughing, forced himself to speak. “Nobody is going to- no. We can just play the simple kiss version, okay? If you’re already in a relationship with someone, you can just peck whoever you get on the cheek, or something like that.”

“And what if we get our significant others?” Jeonghan cooed, wrapping a hand around Seungcheol’s arm.

“Then…” Seungcheol grinned at Jeonghan. “Is that explanation necessary?”

They pushed the couches all slightly back so everyone could fit in the circle they made on the floor. 

“I’ll go first,” Soonyoung declared, and gave the bottle a strong flick that had it spinning for a good quarter of a minute before it stopped, pointing at Mingyu, who wrinkled his nose. 

“No!”

“Kiss him! Kiss him!” everyone whooped.

Soonyoung, extremely tipsy, grabbed Mingyu’s face and aimed for his cheek.

“EW! MY EYE!”

Everyone broke into laughter as Soonyoung giggled, landing in Mingyu’s lap as the younger boy stared irritably at him.

Mingyu did not miss Wonwoo’s longing expression when the bottle had chosen him. And it was part of the reason that he was letting Soonyoung continue to thrash around in his lap. 

“I’ll go,” Junhui said next, spinning the bottle until it landed on Chan. Everyone started shrieking with mirth, but Junhui merely ruffled Chan’s hair and planted a kiss on the top of his head.

“This isn’t fun at all!” Seungkwan yelled. “You’re all being too nice with it. Let me show you!”

Seungkwan spun the bottle, landing on Seokmin and grinning at his best friend. “Now this is where it gets real!”

“Nononono-”

Seungkwan launched himself at Seokmin, pressing a smacking kiss to his cheek and sticking himself there for a good minute, all of which contained Seokmin screeching so loudly that every banshee probably retired right then and there.

Seungkwan finally pulled away to a common room full of people spread out on the floor, laughing their hearts out. He wiped his lips with slight disgust and went to go wash out his mouth.

“Why does he overdo both the action and the makeup for the action?” Seungcheol giggled. “Okay, my turn.”

Seungcheol got Joshua, so everyone closed their eyes.

“Is it safe?” Minghao asked a few seconds later.

Joshua hummed a muffled reply and everyone kept their eyes closed for another minute or so, daring to peek afterwards and deeming it okay to proceed. 

“Who’s next?”

“I can go,” Wonwoo said, something that he’d probably never choose to participate in if he was sober, but it was pretty safe to say that Wonwoo wasn’t completely in his right mind at this point. 

Mingyu felt his heartbeat speeding as Wonwoo put his slender fingers on the bottle, twisting it back and letting it spin.

The Felix Felicis should work-

The bottle slowed as it reached Seokmin, barely moving as it rolled over Minghao, and fell onto Mingyu.

❆

The room quite literally erupted. 

Wonwoo disregarded all of this as he crawled across the small space and cupped Mingyu’s face in his hands, causing the volume to go through the roof.

Wonwoo closed his eyes and leaned in, pressing a tiny kiss to Mingyu’s nose.

He pulled away to find everyone dead silent.

“No making out?” Soonyoung demanded.

Wonwoo instead gazed into Mingyu’s eyes, hoping the other understood.

_ That’s my apology. _

Realization dawned in Mingyu’s eyes, and a small smile sparked on his lips, causing Wonwoo’s eyes to flick down there before reminding himself that he’d already taken his one kiss.

“No making out,” Jeonghan affirmed with a sigh. “Okay, since that was no fun, we’ll have Soonyoung go again.”

Soonyoung cackled, shoving Wonwoo out of the way and grabbing the bottle, giving it a hearty spin.

The bottle landed on Jihoon amidst hooting. 

“Yeah, the best friends!” Seungkwan clapped. “I wonder where Soonyoung will-  _ oh my god _ !”

Seungkwan’s reaction was a pretty good approximation to the rest of the group, who were all shocked into silence as Soonyoung crossed the circle and grabbed Jihoon, smashing his lips onto his.

The shocking part was the way Jihoon’s hands traveled to hold Soonyoung, almost as if…

The way Soonyoung had been feeding Jihoon at shabu shabu. The way Jihoon always fussed over Soonyoung just like how Minghao did to Junhui. The way Soonyoung always seemed so overbearingly clingy with Jihoon, even more so than with everyone. It should’ve been strikingly obvious with Soonyoung’s rice comment when they were discussing Amortentia earlier.

“They’re together?” Joshua cried out, jumping onto the couch.

“Oh my god!” Hansol exclaimed, head in his hands. “My life is a lie. My whole life is a lie!”

“Augh,” Chan moaned, covering his eyes. “I did not want to see that. I was not ready to see that.”

Jihoon and Soonyoung broke apart, both grinning shyly at each other.

“There’s something we wanted to tell you guys…” Soonyoung said, still smiling at Jihoon.

“Yeah, there clearly is!” Seungcheol roared with mock affront, causing everyone to finally break the tension and burst into laughter.

“How long?” Minghao demanded.

“Since… well… it’s been about a year and a half,” Jihoon said, and everyone nearly missed the comment because they were gaping at the way Jihoon was looking at Soonyoung. Jihoon did not look at people like that.

Wonwoo remembered Mingyu asking him if there was anything secret between Soonyoung and Jihoon. He glanced the younger’s way to find him smiling triumphantly at Wonwoo, almost like a satisfied little Cupid’s angel that had come to oversee his predictions.

Oh dear gods, Mingyu as a sweet cherub. It was so fitting. He was just a vessel of endearing love. He’d make such a good angel.

Wonwoo had to stop imagining or he’d actually combust.

Happy for his two friends, although completely bewildered that he hadn’t caught on sooner, Wonwoo clapped along with everyone else, clustering around the grinning pair and giving his congratulations. 

“Yah!” Jeonghan’s pillow smacked through the masses and hit Soonyoung on the head. “How could you not tell me?”

Soonyoung laughed, grabbing another pillow off an adjacent couch. “Because I really wanted a priceless picture of your face for this moment- Seungkwan?”   
“Got it,” Seungkwan gave a thumbs up, impatiently waiting for the slip to exit the polaroid. “Soonyoung told me about him and Jihoon earlier today so I could prepare to take this picture at the right time to get Jeonghan’s face. We finally have his blackmail photo for the tree!”

“Hahah, no way is that getting on there!” Jeonghan launched over, hitting Seungkwan with his pillow next, leaving his back unprotected and ready for Soonyoung to smack into with his pillow.

Seungcheol grabbed his own pillow with mock heroism. “How dare you engage in a pillow fight with my boyfriend, Kwon?”

“Come get me, then!” Soonyoung hollered, already dashing off with his pillow held to him like it was a sword. Seungcheol rushed after him, Joshua following suit by pulling a couch cushion up and smacking Hansol in the head with it, earning another pillow smack to the knees in reply. Jeonghan was busy chasing after Junhui, Jihoon was holding up with Seungkwan in the center of the room, and Chan was a darting menace, Seokmin running after him, determined to get the younger boy. 

Grinning, Wonwoo grabbed his own pillow to fend from Minghao’s attacks and jumped over the back of the couch, sending a pillow flying across the room at Jihoon before ducking and grabbing the next one, turning to face the next assailant and finding it to be Mingyu.

“Sorry, Won!” Mingyu hit him full in the face with the pillow, laughing as Wonwoo toppled.

“I’m not done yet!” Wonwoo grabbed one of the heavy couch cushions from where it’d been dropped onto the floor, throwing it at Mingyu’s legs and causing the younger to meet him on the floor, both of them laughing hard as they held their pillows over their faces to defend themselves from Chan’s surprise attack.

Within five minutes the common room had been completely overturned in the rampant activity of before, and the floor nearly looked like a white Christmas, what with all the white soft down feathers that’d exploded from pillows.

“We should just leave it like this for the next game, it’s fine,” Seungcheol panted, kicking through the petal-like feather layer as they all massed in the center of the room again. 

“What is the next game?” Jeonghan frowned. “It’s nearly a half an hour till midnight, do we have time for another-”

“Seungkwan begged me to let him do this game and I couldn’t say no,” Joshua explained as Seungkwan shot up from where he’d been laying in the feathers and making snow angels with Chan.

“Yes! This game is called Pin The BOO-ty!”

The room was silent.

“Do you mean pin the tail on the-” Jihoon started.

“No! I mean, Pin the Boo-ty!” Seungkwan turned himself around so everyone could see the entity he was referring to, slapping a hand to his own ass. “Pin. The. Boo. Ty.” 

“How exactly does it work?” Minghao asked skeptically as Seokmin and Soonyoung clutched at each other and sank to the floor, shaking with silent laughter. 

“Well, we blindfold a person and let them walk around the room, and they feel people’s asses until they find mine,” Seungkwan shrugged.

“I am not letting random people touch my ass,” Jeonghan said, offended.

“We are your best friends,” Junhui said, possibly more offended.

“Me neither,” Minghao agreed, rushing over to stand next to his Head Boy.

“Gently opting out,” Jihoon agreed, and people quickly left until it was just Seokmin, Soonyoung, Junhui, Hansol, Chan, and Seungkwan himself.

“Really guys?” Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “Well, five other players isn’t ideal, it’s not as much ass as I’d like, but fine. Who wants to get blindfolded fi-”

“Me!” Hansol eagerly stepped forward.

“First contender, excellent.  _ Ob _ -” Soonyoung began.

“Hyung, maybe I should,” Chan said worriedly, hurrying over from where he was standing. “ _ Obscuro _ !” Hansol was bound in a black blindfold, the other three starting to turn him around on the spot and then rush to opposite corners of the room, Seungkwan retreating to his own area as they yelled for Hansol to start his search. 

Wonwoo tried not to laugh, wandering over to where Mingyu was standing and slightly leaning against him as they watched the youngest members of their friend circle (and Soonyoung and Junhui, but he kind of counted them as two of the youngest because of their general disposition). Wonwoo had no idea what compelled him to get so touchy as of this minute, he had no idea how appropriate it was. 

Yet Mingyu wrapped an arm around Wonwoo’s shoulders, letting him lean as much onto his body as Wonwoo liked. “Tired?” he murmured as Hansol fumbled around the open space, Mingyu’s eyes only on Wonwoo. Everyone was chatting quietly, nobody paying them any mind. 

Wonwoo let his cheek fall onto Mingyu’s shoulder, a part of him that’d recovered from the Amortentia vapor and the drinks earlier screaming at him to stop. What the hell did he think he was doing, getting all cuddly with Mingyu? 

But Wonwoo couldn’t stop now. He couldn’t even if he tried. 

“A bit. I’m not good at drinking, even if it’s just Butterbeer.” Wonwoo glanced up into Mingyu’s flushed face. “Something tells me you’re not too good at it, either.”

Mingyu huffed a laugh. “Something tells me I’m not blushing because of the drinks.”

Wonwoo felt like love had just pierced an arrow right through his heart and out the other side.

Yeah, Mingyu was flirty, and yeah, tonight he’d been even more so, but this was… so direct. So forward. There was no mistaking that comment as anything else than what it was. A clear statement that Mingyu was into him, or at least very interested.

“Oh,” was all Wonwoo managed, bright red as he turned back to the game, Hansol currently tapping his palm against Chan’s butt, a thoughtful expression on the part of his face not covered by the blindfold. Chan had an expression of disgust on his face as he twisted his head back to watch Hansol.

“Wait, Seungkwan doesn’t have a tail,” Hansol realized aloud as he grabbed onto the little ornamentation of Chan’s reindeer costume. “Oops. Sorry, Chan.”

“Do not touch me for the next week and you’ll make up for it,” Chan shuddered as Hansol moved on, wildly waving his arms around as he somehow proceeded in Seungkwan’s direction. Seokmin and Soonyoung, both unscathed, were currently losing it silently on the floor yet again. Junhui had descended to the floor minutes ago, and was rolling around in the feathers, laughing as quietly as he could.

“Do you think they’re going to finally-” Mingyu started to whisper to Wonwoo, but was cut off when Hansol grabbed Seungkwan’s ass and gave it a hearty slap.

“This is the one! This is the BOO-ty!” Hansol hooted as Seungkwan turned around and pulled the blindfold off the other. 

It was quiet for a few seconds. Nobody moved.

“Your hand’s still on my ass,” Seungkwan breathed.

“Yeah,” Hansol admitted, doing nothing to remove it.

“I kind of like it,” Seungkwan added.

“Yeah, me too,” Hansol agreed.

The pair crashed to the floor, kissing madly.

“Finally!” Chan sighed, breaking free of his frozen posture and moving off to get another Butterbeer. “It’s been coming for years. Gods, I need a drink.”

Everyone laughed and followed Chan to the crate, leaving Mingyu and Wonwoo by the fireplace, quiet and peaceful and secluded for the first time all night.

Mingyu turned to face Wonwoo, holding him by the waist instead. “You sure you don’t want to lay down? You look really tired.”

“No, I’m okay,” Wonwoo said, gazing up into Mingyu’s eyes. Was it just the heat of the merrily crackling fireplace next to them, or was Mingyu’s body really this warm all the time? Because if so, Wonwoo wouldn’t mind spending a snowy afternoon in his embrace. 

Wonwoo remembered the first time he’d breathed in the fragrant aroma of Mingyu’s cologne. He’d wanted to drown in it. And now he was, because he was locked in Mingyu’s arms and he truly, honestly, never wanted to leave.

This was paradise.

This was what he wanted.

Wonwoo was aware of the room quietening, but everything was fading now as he looked into Mingyu’s eyes and Mingyu stared back and the seconds slid by like sweet honey.

“There’s something I want to tell you,” Wonwoo whispered. 

❆

Mingyu gazed into Wonwoo’s dark bright eyes. “Yes?”

“I…” Wonwoo flushed. “I was lying. Yesterday.”

“Lying about?”

“About you not being my type.” Wonwoo laughed, screwing his eyes up in embarrassment, leaning his forehead against Mingyu’s chest, clearly in an effort to avoid looking him in the eyes. “You are my type. You are so my type. Every part of you. Your laugh, your touch, your kindness, your playfulness, your happiness, your energy, your face… every inch of you is my type. I think I formed my type off of you. I’ve never been able to keep my eyes off of you but this week it’s been especially hard and I’ve figured out why.”

Mingyu felt something simmering in his blood, warm and happy and ready. He didn’t know if it was the Felix Felicis or his own excitement. All he knew was that  _ Wonwoo liked him and thought him desirable _ . 

That gave him enough confidence to simply reply with, “You’ve always been my type too, Won.”

Wonwoo blushed harder- Mingyu could see the tops of his ears reddening. “Don’t…”

“Hey. Look at me.”

Wonwoo did, his delicate beautiful face upturned to Mingyu’s, and Mingyu quite literally felt his heart beating double in his chest, and he knew that this was what he wanted.

Forever.

Time stopped as Mingyu murmured, “Can I kiss you?”

“Please,” Wonwoo breathed in reply, his eyes sparkling as Mingyu dipped his lips to Wonwoo’s and pressed them against the latter’s.

It was like fireworks exploded- not only in Mingyu’s heart but apparently in Wonwoo’s too, for the lean boy made a weak sound of exhilaration and nearly collapsed, Mingyu smiling into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around Wonwoo, holding him as Wonwoo wrapped his arms around Mingyu’s neck, holding him tightly as he kissed him harder.

Mingyu tried to be gentle, he really did, but he’d wanted to kiss Wonwoo for so long that he knew that he’d probably leave bruising on the other’s lips by tomorrow. He certainly felt a sense of guilty pleasure when his sharp canine rasped over Wonwoo’s lower lip and Wonwoo let out a little gasp. It only made Mingyu want to kiss him longer. 

Dimly Mingyu registered the courtyard clock hitting twelve, the deep reverberations of the clock spreading through the castle, solidifying the kiss as snow swirled onto the windows, the air bright and warm and content.

“You are what I wanted,” Wonwoo sighed against Mingyu’s lips, and it nearly made Mingyu combust with happiness. 

That wasn’t the only explosion, as the pair grew aware of- they’d spaced out so far in their little bubble that now they’d returned to reality as they slowly pulled apart, beaming at each other to find the room in complete chaos. 

“They’re making out!” Soonyoung was screaming, Minghao was clapping while falling backwards onto the floor with his laughter, Junhui and Chan had leapt up and were now jumping on the couches, Seungcheol was literally shaking as he held back his laughter, Joshua and Jihoon were both grinning like idiots, Jeonghan was smiling with pure satisfaction, Seokmin was literally screeching with excitement, and Hansol and Seungkwan were still tangled on the floor, eyes wide as they stared at Mingyu and Wonwoo. 

Jeonghan walked over, still smirking as he clapped both of them on the shoulders. “Congratulations, lovebirds. Wonwoo, your lip’s bleeding a bit.”

Wonwoo blushed, smacking Mingyu on the shoulder, Mingyu holding Wonwoo to his body as he grinned sheepishly, loving the way their bodies fit together so well. “It’s Mingyu’s fault, not mine.”

“Thank Felix Felicis, not me,” Mingyu laughed. “I would’ve never had the courage otherwise!”

Wonwoo raised an eyebrow. “You gave me my first kiss under the influence of Felix Felicis, mister?”

Mingyu’s grin turned slightly nervous. “Yes…?”

Everyone’s attention was drawn by Minghao, Seokmin, and Junhui, who’d all sunk to the floor laughing. The oldest three were smiling too, as if in on a secret. 

“What’s so funny?” Mingyu demanded.

“You- you didn’t actually drink Felix Felicis, mate!” Seokmin chuckled, clutching at his sides.

“ _ What _ ?”

“It’s all Minghao’s idea,” Junhui explained. “Hao, tell him.”

Minghao grinned as he sat up, brushing feathers from his cardigan. “Allow the master to educate you. The idea formed just after we started brewing the Felix Felicis, but I was able to act on it yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Mingyu questioned.

_ “One bottle of Fake Felicis, please,” Minghao asked the counter attendant, turning to Junhui and Seokmin as the girl went behind the shelves to get it. _

_ “So you’re going to give it to Mingyu and pretend it’s the real stuff?” Junhui asked, intrigued. “That’s so smart. So he’ll think he’s drank it and feel confident-” _

_ “-and he’ll have the courage to ask out Wonwoo tomorrow night, thinking that Felix is backing him up!” Seokmin finished, too eager to spill the plan that Minghao had only told him this morning. “Isn’t it great?” _

_ “Yeah,” Junhui beamed. “That’s a wonderful idea.” _

_ “Here it is,” Minghao said, paying the girl as he picked up the vial that was slid across to him. “It’s just fancy fruit juice that’s enchanted the same color, but it’s not like Mingyu’s had Felix Felicis before and can know the taste difference. He’ll drink it right up, and he’s naive enough for the plan to work.” _

_ “So how are you going to give it to him?” Junhui asked.  _

_ “We’ll have to find a way to slip away from him when it’s time to turn in the potion, and we’ll turn in the real one and get the fake from my dormitory, get back to him, tell him the two-vial story I’ve devised, and get him to drink it.” _

_ “You’ve really thought this through,” Junhui said, impressed. “I bet there’s a script.” _

_ “Yeah, it involves our story on why we needed to pour out two vials of the stuff, so he’ll believe we’re giving him the backup vial because we don’t need it anymore.” Minghao pocketed the little bottle as they left Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, the bell jangling cheerfully as they stepped back into the snowy High Street. “It’ll be such a bonus if your part of the idea works too, Junnie. You can pull it off, right?” _

Everyone was patiently waiting as Minghao finished explaining, Mingyu in complete shock at his friend’s cunning wit yet happy that he’d really had a true kiss. 

“Pull what off, though?” Chan questioned, and now it was Junhui, Soonyoung, and Jihoon’s turn to start smirking at each other.

“Oh,” Wonwoo realized with a groan. “I think I know what this is about.”

“As we know, Amortentia doesn’t do anything to us unless we drink it,” Junhui began. “So I was thinking all week, I’d slip it into Wonwoo’s pumpkin juice-” Jihoon gave Wonwoo an  _ I-told-you-so _ look- “and he’d be right after Mingyu. But then, I realized there was a simpler way, and it was when I was watching Mingyu give his scarf to Wonwoo before we went skating the other night. Wonwoo had to realize that he was in love with Mingyu, and what better way than Wonwoo smelling Mingyu’s distinct cologne from the Amortentia? Because Wonwoo’s the kind of person to deny to the end that he likes someone, mainly to convince himself, we had to give him a gentle shove in the right direction. So it came together in my mind. We’d have to get the Amortentia fumes inside him- which was a problem, seeing as every time we worked on it Wonwoo had us all put masks on to prevent from smelling it. So when Minghao told me his plan, I realized that I could do something too.”

_ “Listen, I need your help,” Junhui said, squeezing in next to Soonyoung at the Gryffindor table. “Can you meet me outside the library after dinner? Jihoon’s coming too.” _

_ “Cool. what’s up? Should I ask Won-” _

_ “No. No. This needs to be between the three of us.” _ _  
_ __ _ Soonyoung nodded slowly, confused yet compliant. “Okay.” _

_ The trio met outside the library’s glass doors, starting to walk aimlessly through the halls as they talked, not wanting to be followed or overheard. _

_ “So… let me get this straight,” Soonyoung said when Junhui finished explaining his idea. “I’m supposed to go with Wonwoo to deliver the potion and drop the thing so he can smell it?” _

_ “Yeah, and make it look like an accident,” Junhui said. “Wonwoo likes delegating tasks, so when you say you’ll go with him to deliver the potion to Snape he’ll easily tell me and Jihoon to clean up the leftover potion. Jihoon can pour out another vial so Won can still get his extra credit, and Wonwoo will have predicted that Jihoon will have a backup vial prepared because he knows Jihoon’s like that. It’ll all come naturally. You’re a natural at falling over, I didn’t even say your name when I suggested my idea to Minghao but he knew exactly who I was talking about. Can you do it?” _

_ “I guess, yeah, if all I’ve got to do is drop the thing,” Soonyoung agreed. “I’m a good actor, I can get some tears in too, I think.” _

_ “Okay, good,” Junhui said. “You have to time it right, though. He’ll take his mask off after we stopper the vial, but don’t drop it just then. Wait until you guys leave the common room so it looks like a real accident, but don’t go too far off either.” _

_ “I’ll make sure the replacement’s ready for when you guys run back,” Jihoon agreed. “It’s a pretty brilliant idea, especially because he’ll see Mingyu right after, when he gets to the party. Then the scent will just hit him again and he’ll realize it’s the same thing as in the Amortentia. He can’t lie to himself after that.” Jihoon frowned. “What if Wonwoo doesn’t smell that cologne though?” _ _  
_ __ _ Junhui laughed. “Seriously? What else would he smell? He’s a man in love!” _

Everyone was laughing by the time Junhui finished, Soonyoung dashing up to Wonwoo and exaggerating a bow. “Actor of the year, Kwon Soonyoung, at your service. Did you like my little pouty-face trembly lip action?”

“It was great,” Wonwoo said wearily. “Well, I’m glad our kiss was… organic.”

Everyone was lost in happily staring at each other for a few seconds. 

Until Hansol yelled.

“Oh my god, the snakes!”

“What? The worms? Are they okay?” Jeonghan said frantically, shoving over to the tree-

“No! The- the chocolate ones! The depraved sculptures!” Seungcheol said, holding back his laughter as he pointed at the snake figurines that’d been hung over the fireplace- now a mess of chocolate, trickling onto the floor slowly. 

“No!” Jeonghan screeched. “My snakes!”

“Melted chocolate!” Soonyoung and Seokmin rushed over, Joshua admonishing them with a hurried ‘ _ don’t eat off the floor, catch the stuff still falling, here _ !’ as he gave them a pair of cups.

Seungcheol hugged Jeonghan tightly as the Slytherin stared, distraught, at the snakes. “It’s okay, Han, to be honest nobody else liked them much anyway.”

Jeonghan sighed, watching Soonyoung and Seokmin vy for the dripping chocolate. “I know.”

“Can I open my presents now?” Chan whined loudly, and everyone started laughing as Jeonghan nodded, Chan rushing past Mingyu and Wonwoo without a care as he slid to his knees by the time he reached the tree, his hands rapidly tearing the wrapping off of all the presents that had been packaged in lime green- his favorite color. 

“Awesome!” Chan whooped, already throwing his miniature broomstick into the air and watching it zip around the room as he excitedly pulled a box of peppermint imps and more candy into his lap. “Hyungs, I love these!”

_ “I’ve got him about five Christmas presents this year, all stuff he’s been into, you know. Miniature broomstick models and Peppermint Imps and joke candy and all those things itty-bitty fourth year babies like him love. He’ll forgive any hard feelings when he opens them.” _

Mingyu glanced over at Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua, the three oldest all holding each other tightly as they watched Chan fondly, Jeonghan’s eyes breaking away momentarily to scan the room full of his friends and the last Christmas he’d celebrate at Hogwarts.

“Is Jeonghan crying?” Seungkwan teased as Jeonghan buried his face in Joshua’s shoulder, the other boy laughing as he rubbed Jeonghan’s back.

Jihoon laughed. “He always pretends he doesn’t care about us, but you know how he really is.”

Seungcheol was gazing at Jeonghan so affectionately that it made Mingyu’s heart warm. “He worked harder than all of us this year, to give us not only such an amazing party but Mingyu and Wonwoo a happy ending.”

This only made Jeonghan cry harder, even as Chan dropped his presents and ran over to hug him. 

“Come on everyone, he can’t cry today, it’s Christmas!” Junhui protested, and everyone suddenly stood, rushing over until they were all hugging tightly, Mingyu not letting Wonwoo’s hand go even then, as they were lost in the mass. 

“Next year,” Jeonghan said, mopping at his eyes with Joshua’s handkerchief as everyone clustered happily around. “Next year, I’ll throw a party at my place. I’ll have a villa by then. Or maybe just at my family mansion. Then you guys can meet my snakes.”

Everyone laughed and they all hugged again, thirteen cheerful people in their little world. 

Over the next few minutes, everyone broke into their little groups, exchanging hugs and small “Merry Christmases” amongst themselves. 

Mingyu let Wonwoo go and greet his best friends, finding Seokmin and latching on to him, giving him a warm hug which was returned with equal enthusiasm, checking one hug off of today’s to do list- eight hugs a day for emotional growth and development, as Seokmin always said.

“You guys,” Minghao sobbed, having found Mingyu and Seokmin and suddenly crushing them in his wiry arms. Minghao’s face was tearstained and he was clearly overcome with emotion, for he kissed- actually kissed- the top of both of their heads, Mingyu bending down slightly so Minghao could do so. “You guys, I just… I love you so much!”

“And there’s the real Christmas confession we’ve been waiting for!” Seokmin beamed, kissing Minghao’s head in return, Mingyu doing the same to his best friends as they hugged tightly.

“Wait!” Seungkwan shrieked, and everyone froze, worried.

“Dear gods, what’s happened now?” Wonwoo asked.

“You two-” Seungkwan whined, stomping his feet as he pointed at the ceiling. “You guys- when you kissed- you were standing by the tree! You missed the mistletoe!” Seungkwan stomped his foot again. “You got the whole stroke of midnight thing and the cheesy lines before part, but you missed the damn mistletoe!”

“Well, that can be fixed,” Mingyu sighed in relief, glad that it wasn’t anything too major. “Get over here, Won.”

And clapping took over the room once more as Mingyu grabbed Wonwoo by the wrist, pulling him along until they were smack-dab under the mistletoe, and kissed him to the whoops and cheers of their friends, as snow swirled prettily outside and the hearth crackled with a bright warmth that could come nowhere near the amount of love in their hearts.

“A perfect ending to a Christmas Carol,” Wonwoo murmured against Mingyu’s lips, the two deaf to everything around them.

Mingyu laughed into the kiss. “A Christmas Chaos, you mean.”

Wonwoo’s eyebrows furrowed adorably, and Mingyu nearly crashed his lips onto Wonwoo’s again. “What do you mean, A Christmas Chaos?”

“That’s a story for another day,” Mingyu smiled, and kissed Wonwoo again, knowing they had all the days left in the world to tell it.

**_epilogue_ **

Jeon Wonwoo awoke to the feeling of something heavy and warm crushing him.

He slowly opened his eyes, finding a wreckage of wrapping paper strewn across the floor, feather fluff still coating every surface, reminiscent of the snow clumping onto the window panes outside. A White Christmas. 

On the couch opposite, Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua snoozed happily, their bodies entangled in a way that was only comfortable and familiar to them. Behind them, the Christmas spruce still stood tall and proud, the worms inside its festive baubles also asleep as morning crept into the Gryffindor common room. 

Minghao and Junhui were sprawled on the other couch, buried under a thick blanket, Junhui nearly falling off the edge yet somehow managing to remain right at the end of the sofa. Soonyoung was snuggled with Jihoon on the floor between the couches, Seungkwan and Hansol mirroring them on the other side of Chan, who was fast asleep between the two couples, lost in his own sea of blankets next to Seokmin. 

The air was warm and still smelled faintly of cinnamon from last night, yet Wonwoo couldn’t quite breathe in all the way, the main reason being the owner of the much more prominent scent- Mingyu, who was dozing on top of Wonwoo, peacefully sleeping even as golden light hit his cheek, the sun making its ascent into the sky. Wonwoo carefully tugged the thin blanket covering the two of them over Mingyu’s face, allowing him to continue his sleep without being disturbed by the growing light penetrating the room. 

Wonwoo wasn’t sure how exactly they fit on the couch- everyone had just sort of crashed last night on whatever space was available, and he’d curled up with Mingyu, barely aware of Seungcheol draping the blanket over the two of them before he was out. Even now, Mingyu was practically clinging onto Wonwoo’s body, 

Wonwoo laid there for a while, barely daring to breathe any deeper because it might stir Mingyu- although, judging from the latter’s soft snores, it would take some time before Mingyu would wake. He wanted to stroke through Mingyu’s hair, because it looked so beautiful like that, spilled onto Wonwoo’s chest- yet he held himself back, wanting to enjoy a few more moments like this.

However Mingyu was shifting moments later, mumbling sleepily as he raised his head from Wonwoo’s shoulder, blinking up at him like an adorable lost puppy. 

“Hey,” Wonwoo said softly, and he nearly melted right into the sofa at the drowsy, endeared smile Mingyu gave him in return as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Wonwoo’s lips, so simply, so easily.

“Good morning,” Mingyu murmured, his voice thick from sleep. “Did you sleep okay?”

Wonwoo nodded. “Best sleep I’ve had in a while.”

Mingyu yawned, nodding as he glanced around at the mess that everyone had created last night- in the haze of partying, they clearly hadn’t predicted the amount of mess that would be left over for the next morning. “Wow.”

“I know.” Wonwoo shifted slightly, and Mingyu immediately lifted himself up onto his elbows.

“Am I crushing you?”

“No,” Wonwoo lied. At Mingyu’s look, he elaborated- “Well, a little. But it’s warm, so…”

Mingyu smiled, slowly lowering himself back onto Wonwoo’s body, bracing himself up on his forearms and resting his chin on Wonwoo’s chest, looking up at him as he kept talking. “I’ll lose weight, if you want. So we can cuddle without you getting squished.”

“ _ No _ ,” Wonwoo shook his head vehemently, grabbing Mingyu’s toned arm. “You are  _ not _ losing this. This is fantastic. No way.”

Mingyu chuckled softly. “Okay, then. However you like me.”

“I like you as you,” Wonwoo chided tenderly, pinching Mingyu’s cheek. “So don’t you dare change a single part.”

“I won’t.” Mingyu looked around at all their friends, the others still lost in dreams. “Wow. Can't remember the last time I actually woke up before other people.” He gave Wonwoo a grin that once again nearly killed Wonwoo with how pure and happy it was. “I guess I was just excited to wake up and see you.” Mingyu frowned. “Well, I saw you in my dreams anyway. We were at the lake, and we were ice skating again, except the squid was there, outside the ice, like, on the surface of the lake, and-”

“Okay, okay,” Wonwoo said gently, hushing Mingyu with a finger to the lips. He knew that Mingyu was talkative, and he’d kind of predicted that Mingyu was the type of person to wake up and immediately start chattering. “I know you’re excited, but Jeonghan really, really needs rest. After all he’s done for us, let’s give him that gift this year. He’s a light sleeper- most of them are. We’ll leave here soon, let them sleep a while more.”

“Where are we going to go?” Mingyu lightly bounced, stopping at Wonwoo’s wince. “Oh, sorry. Why can’t we go now? I want to talk, Won! I’ve got too much energy. I have to send an owl home. I have to tell them I’ve got a boyfriend now.”

Wonwoo wondered what he’d gotten himself into when he’d kissed Mingyu last night. Junhui wasn’t even this hyperactive in the morning.

But he loved Mingyu for this bubbly personality, so he’d signed up for this and quite honestly, he found it more charming than anything else. 

“We’ll go to breakfast soon,” Wonwoo reassured Mingyu, smoothing down the younger’s hair. “And we’re not going right now because I don’t have as much energy as you. I’m still sleepy. Give me some time to wake up.”

Mingyu whined at that, dropping his face back onto Wonwoo’s chest and nuzzling his cheek against the sweater that he’d let Wonwoo borrow last night. Wonwoo was glad Mingyu hadn’t detected his little white lie. He was plenty awake, but he just really wanted to stay here for a while because Mingyu was just so warm and adorable and fluffy today morning and Wonwoo was just trapped here underneath him and he never wanted to get up.

“So what’s our agenda for today? Our first day as a couple. We have to do something memorable,” Mingyu remarked, and Wonwoo smiled at the younger’s slight lisp, taking Mingyu by the chin so he could face him.

“First, we’ll go for a snowball fight,” Wonwoo said, pressing a kiss to Mingyu’s nose right after. “And then, you’ll take me flying.” Another kiss, on the same place. Mingyu’s shy giggle made Wonwoo’s whole day, and it hadn’t even started yet. “I’ll repay the favor after that by taking you skating.” The third kiss. “And then we’ll get shabu shabu for lunch.”

“Wait,” Mingyu said, having finally caught on, smiling brightly.

“After that, we can go to Hogsmeade and buy some fake Felix Felicis and I’ll say something or the other about how much you’re ‘totally not my type’ and then you can get upset and eat a whole cinnamon roll on your own, and then we can throw a little holiday party after I smell some Amortentia, and we can kiss at the stroke of midnight not under the mistletoe, and fix it five minutes later. How’s that?” Wonwoo smiled.

“I love it, best plan ever,” Mingyu answered seriously, breaking it seconds later as he grinned, kissing Wonwoo again.

They broke apart, bodies warm and eyes bright as they gazed at each other.

“Merry Christmas, Mingyu,” Wonwoo whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Wonwoo,” Mingyu beamed back.

“And so, as Mingyu and Wonwoo observe,” Chan said sleepily from the floor, Wonwoo instantly recognizing the quote from the Muggle classic he’d referenced last night, “God bless us all, every one!”

God bless us all indeed.

Merry Christmas to you as well, dear reader, and have a happy and healthy holiday season. 

☾

**_-fin-_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaa i’m so grateful to all of you for being here until the end!! 
> 
> i would’ve posted this yesterday but i wanted to add more details and little bits like that, so it’s ended up being posted today!! 
> 
> please PLEASE take a second to navigate to my page and check out my gyuhan story (snapshoot) or my 96 liner story (for the last time, we aren’t friends) !! 
> 
> if you liked this work or my writing style please consider checking those out on my page as i will begin to update them soon, seeing as i’ve finished with this!! 
> 
> thank you for sticking with me until the end, i’ve never written this fast in my life but i loved the journey so so much!!   
>  i’ll keep working even in 2021 to bring you more content!
> 
> your support means more than i can put into words and i am beyond grateful that so many people read and enjoyed this story. 
> 
> to all of you, happy holidays!! and i hope the new year brings luck, health, and safety to you and your families <3 
> 
> -mingyuwu


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